Solid as a rock, flexible as water? Improving students' socio-emotional adjustment and social safety in prevocational schools.

In this project we aim to examine whether the R&W program contributes to increases in socio-emotional adjustment and social safety of prevocational boys and girls with different ethnic backgrounds.



The study examines under which condition the program is effective: 1) “R&W light” (training core-team); 2) “R&W Standard” (training core-team and whole school team); and 3) “R&W Plus” (training core-team, whole school team and parent participation). Characteristics of students, trainers and parents are taken into account (moderator effects). It is further examined whether effects of R&W are mediated by increases in self-control, self-reflection, self-esteem, and emotion regulation of students. In addition, it is investigated whether communication of students mediates the effects of R&W on social safety.

The aim of the study is to examine the effectiveness of Rock and Water (R&W) and possible moderators and mediators.



Effectiveness:

- The R&W program will increase students’ socio-emotional adjustment (i.e., psychosocial wellbeing, sexual health, resilience) and social safety (i.e., social safety in the classroom, aggression, bullying).

- The R&W program will be more effective the more parties (i.e., part of the school, the whole school, the whole school and parents) are involved in R&W.



Moderators:

- Student characteristics (gender, ethnicity, personality), trainer characteristics (gender, ethnicity, education level, level of experienced competence, expertise, degree of received training and supervision) and parental characteristics (sense of parenting competence, and positive parenting) moderate the effectiveness of R&W.



Mediators:

- Self-control, self-reflection, self-esteem, and emotion regulation mediate the effect of R&W on students’ socio-emotional adjustment and social safety.

- Communication with peers mediate the effect of R&W on social safety.

To assess the effectiveness and working mechanisms of R&W, there are multiple measurement time points:

- T1: Prior to the intervention 1st year (pre-test)

- Interim measurements of outcomes and mediators after each three sessions during R&W

- T2: Immediately after the intervention 1st year (post-test)

- T3: Prior to the intervention 2nd year (pre-test)

- Interim measurements of outcomes and mediators after each two sessions during R&W

- T4: Immediately after the intervention 2nd year (post-test)

- T5: Six months after termination of the intervention in the 2nd year (follow-up)

R&W is an intervention that aims to increase the social-emotional adjustment and social safety of students by increasing students’ psychosocial wellbeing, sexual health, resilience and social safety in the classroom and decreasing aggression and bullying. The term ‘rock’ indicates a rigid and uncompromising attitude. The term ‘water’ indicates flexibility and cooperation. The intervention consists of 14 lessons in the 1st year (Grade 7) and 8 lessons in the 2nd year (Grade 8) and uses a psychophysical approach; through play and exercise students experience their own strength, learn to make physical contact and learn to explore, respect and set own and other’s boundaries.



This study examines the effect of R&W by including three experimental conditions and one control condition. Schools will be randomly assigned to one of these conditions:

1. R&W Light: A core team of teachers is trained to implement R&W.

2. R&W Standard: A core team of teachers is trained to implement R&W and the school team is trained to support the R&W trainer.

3. R&W Plus: A core team of teachers is trained to implement R&W, the school team is trained to support the R&W trainer and students’ parents are involved by providing them additional information and inviting them to participate in a R&W lesson at the school.

4. Control condition: Current school policy to enhance students’ socio-emotional adjustment and social safety.