Team Implementation Guide
How do schools translate the evidence of what is known to work into real world practice? and what do schools need to build their capacity to implement and sustain these practices? have been key questions in recent Friendly Schools research projects.
Capacity building and alignment with whole-school vision
Research findings include the need for schools to establish a strong foundation to support effectiveness and sustainability of the implementation process. Studies showed schools need to begin by identifying and clarifying their specific whole-school vision and aligning this with current evidence for practice to reduce bullying and enhance social and emotional understandings and competencies (blue outer layer). This enabled schools to take ownership of the process and work towards implementing policies and practices that met their specific needs.
Five-stage implementation process
The Friendly Schools five-stage implementation process is designed to support school coordinating teams to implement a whole-school approach to social and emotional learning and bullying prevention through a quality improvement cycle. This cycle is based on the Action Research Model and links all the stages of implementation (getting ready, exploring needs and current practices, preparing for improvement, implementation of plan and ongoing review) to support systematic change. The efforts of the school team should be focused on planning to address the strategic issues that are found to be specific to your school community.
