regularly attend half-termly supervision in small groups (with a recommended maximum of 8 ELSAs per group and duration of 2 hours per session), led by a qualified educational psychologist If any of the above criteria do not apply, the role title of ELSA should not be used. Practising ELSAs are registered with local educational psychology service providers who deliver initial training and on-going professional supervision. Each service provider is responsible for maintaining a local register of practising ELSAs and will remove from their register any person no longer fulfilling the role requirements as detailed above. have attended (or are currently attending) a full ELSA training course delivered by one or more fully qualified educational psychologists (courses lasting a minimum of 5 but more usually 6 days) ELSAs work with children and young people either individually or in small groups and deliver bespoke interventions tailored to the presenting situation or need. The role of the ELSA is to develop children and young people's:

ELSA Network – Emotional Literacy Support Assistants

ELSA Trainers’ Manual has been produced to enable others to replicate the highly successful ELSA project currently operating across Hampshire. All ELSAs must be employed within an educational establishment (or other organisation that works with children and young people), and must receive line management support in the ELSA role. For reasons of accountability and safety, the ELSA Network will not endorse anyone to work independently or on a voluntary basis as an ELSA. Written by Sheila Burton, the educational psychologist who developed the ELSA role first in Southampton and then in Hampshire, ELSA Trainers’ Manual draws upon many years of experience in training people for this work. She was appointed Area Principal Educational Psychologist for the western area of Hampshire in 2007 and went on to co-author ‘Emotional Wellbeing: an Introductory Handbook’ with Gillian Shotton. Published in 2008, it was written specifically as a handbook for ELSAs whilst also being relevant to a wider range of children’s workers. She has since helped other educational psychology services to implement ELSA in their local authority and continues to provide guidance and support to those interested in this work. Sheila published the ELSA Trainers’ Manual in 2009 to support the introduction of this approach more widely. ELSA Training is a project through which ELSA contributes to the personal and professional development of law students and young lawyers that aims to develop the skills and knowledge of ELSA members.

In 1998, she completed an MSc in Educational Psychology and worked as an educational psychologist in Southampton for four years. During that time, she was asked to recruit, induct and manage five ELSAs who worked peripatetically for the Southampton Psychology Service. This initiative, launched in 2001, proved so popular with schools that some began to designate learning support assistants within their own staff to provide similar emotional support to pupils. The second edition has been expanded to reflect updated training content (unpublished) that is now used by many educational psychology services registered with the ELSA Network. Each chapter outlines some key psychology with a focus on practical applications, illustrated by brief case examples. Most programmes would last for at least half a term and up to a term, depending on the child and circumstances. Typically they are likely to be 8-12 weeks long, as time is needed to build rapport and identify appropriate targets. If they go on longer than this it suggests that clear programme aims have not been set. It may also create over-dependency upon the ELSA. An ELSA programme is not expected to remediate every need a pupil has. It should have a specific focus. (See Programme and session planning in Good Practice section.) Once the programme aims have been met, it may be appropriate to move from a planned programme to some informal follow-up support while the youngster generalises new learning into the wider school context. This maintenance support would involve seeing the pupil less frequently or more briefly than during the programme itself. Some pupils may at a later date receive a further period of intervention with different programme aims. Where should ELSA work be done?

About ELSA – ELSA Network

An Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) is a trained, school based learning support assistant. Their role is to support the emotional wellbeing of pupils. They are trained by a team of Educational Psychologists and receive ongoing group supervision. Who ELSAs work with Excellent ELSAs: Top Tips for Emotional Literacy Support Assistants by Sheila Burton (with Fiona Okai)ELSA is an initiative developed and supported by educational psychologists, who apply their professional knowledge of children’s social and emotional development to areas of need experienced by pupils. They provide on-going professional supervision to help maintain high quality in the work undertaken by ELSAs, thereby helping to ensure safe practice for ELSAs and pupils alike.

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ELSA support is not behaviour management. It’s about increasing pupils’ self-awareness and helping them develop more successful coping strategies, which is proactive rather than reactive work. In the course of an intervention programme it may be appropriate to reflect on specific incidents, but this would depend upon the pupil being in a state of receptiveness. Sometimes ELSAs need to overcome defensiveness by using indirect methods such as therapeutic stories or puppet work that separate the ‘problem’ from the person. Day to day behaviour management should be kept outside of ELSA sessions, and not seen as the responsibility of the ELSA. Expecting an ELSA to deal with pupil misbehaviour creates role conflict. Most ELSAs also work as classroom assistants. In this role they may well need to deal with misbehaviour. However when they are delivering ELSA support it needs to be clear to the children that they are ‘wearing a different hat’, otherwise it may inhibit their relationship with the child or young person. Is it OK to deviate from my session plan if a pupil just needs to talk? ELSAs attend ongoing group supervision (6 times a year,) to safeguard practice and develop their skills. provide continued further skills development. Schools with an ELSA Sheila Burton, who set up the original ELSA projects, graduated in Psychology in 1975, followed by completion of a PGCE. She worked in a special educational needs assessment nursery, before taking a break to have her three children. After this, she returned to a range of work, which included Portage home tutoring and special needs teaching, followed by SENCo posts in infant and junior schools. During this time, Sheila gained a Diploma in Advanced Educational Studies (SEN).PLEASE NOTE: some locations are now SOLD OUT. We are working to arrange further supervisions sessions in these areas. The ELSA Network is managed by a steering group of educational psychologists with experience of establishing and managing ELSA training and supervision in local areas. They do this voluntarily in their own time. The current composition of the steering group is: The Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) programme is an evidence-informed, nationally recognised approach to supporting children and young people (from primary through to secondary) with a range social and emotional needs. This highly regarded programme for teaching assistants will: In 2002, Sheila was appointed as a Senior Educational Psychologist with Hampshire County Council and the following year, began to train and supervise school-based ELSAs in Hampshire. With the support of the Hampshire Educational Psychology Service, this project was gradually extended across the whole county and throughout this time Sheila wrote various journal articles about the ELSA initiative and emotional literacy group work in schools. It comprises ten training presentations with presenters’ notes and a wide range of supporting documents. The manual includes a CD-ROM, plus a DVD of an ELSA training session ‘Working with Puppets’.