Engaging the disengaged

The first European conference on social, emotional and behaviour competence and difficulties in children and young persons was recently held at the Dolmen Resort Hotel.

The conference was organised conjointly by the Faculty of Education, University of Malta, and the School of Education, University of Leicester. More than 250 delegates from more than 20 countries attended the three-day conference and pre-conference workshops.

The aim of the conference was to bring together researchers and practitioners working in the area to discuss evidence based practice that has been found to work with children and young persons with social, emotional and behaviour difficulties (SEBD) within a European dimension. The conference was addressed by various international and local guest speakers, including Peter Farrell, professor at the University of Manchester, who spoke on the devalued label of SEBD and suggested how teachers and professionals might help children and young persons with SEBD and their parents to be more actively involved in decisions that affect their lives.

Carmen Zammit, Commissioner for Children in Malta, underlined the need to safeguard the rights of children with SEBD and described a number of initiatives being taken by her Office in this regard.

Helen Cowie, professor at the University of Surrey, described her current international research on the role of peer support in schools in minimising violent and bullying behaviour.

Ed Smeets from the University of Nijmegen reviewed various large scale studies being carried out in The Netherlands with students with SEBD and presented a systematic approach for the prevention and early intervention of such difficulties in school.

An evaluation of three ongoing programmes in Norway, namely the Parent Management Training, Multisystemic Therapy and PALS, a programme to promote social competence in school, was presented by Terge Ogden and Mari-Anne Sorlie from the Norwegian Centre for Child Behaviour Development. Paul Cooper, from the University of Leicester, and Carmel Cefai, from the University of Malta, discussed the preliminary findings of a current national study on the nature and distribution of social, emotional and behaviour difficulties in Maltese schools.

Mark Borg, from the University of Malta, described how Personal and Social Development as a taught subject in Maltese schools, is perceived by the students at the end of the primary and secondary cycles.

In the concluding addresses, Marion Bennathan, chair of Nurture Group Network (UK), underlined the need for positive early relationships for the promotion of mental health in adulthood, while Prof. Cooper argued that while children need our care and support, we also need children in their lives.

Alfred Vella, ProRector of the University of Malta, Valerie Sollars, dean of the Faculty of Education, Cecilia Borg, director general of Education, and Education Minister Louis Galea also addressed the conference. Among others they referred to the efforts being made by the University of Malta, the Education Division and other organisations in preventing SEBD and promoting more positive behaviour in school, such as the crucial role of research in prevention and intervention, pre- and in-service training of school staff in SEBD, the new Master's course in SEBD at the Faculty of Education, the opening of a nurture-oriented school, and the plan to set up a Behaviour Support Team to provide support to schools, teachers, students and parents.

Six pre-conference workshops were held on the first day of the conference, including among others, Quality Circle Time by Jenny Mosley, ADHD by Paul Cooper, Nurture Groups by Marion Bennathan, and Emotional Literacy by Elisabeth Morris. All workshops were fully booked.

The Maltese delegates represented various state and non-state schools, institutions and organisations providing support to children and young persons with SEBD, including directors, college coordinators, education officers, heads of school, teachers, counsellors, psychologists, social workers, and Faculty of Education members of staff.

Olivia Lewis opened and closed the conference with a number of songs related to the conference theme, including The Life of a Child, written and composed by Olivia herself and performed together with the San Andrea Senior School Choir. The MEd SEBD students at the University of Malta assisted in the day to day running of the conference.

The proceedings of the conference, which included eight keynote addresses and about 50 paper and poster presentations, will be published soon in book format in the UK. This was the first European conference in social, emotional and behaviour competence and difficulties, and plans have already been made to continue this initiative on a biannual basis, with the second conference being held in 2009. A European network for social competence in education has also been established to organise and coordinate a number of initiatives in this area within a European framework.