Summary
Delivery of the intervention: Group-based
Aim of the intervention: Incredible years teacher classroom management program increased social skills of 3–12 year-old children and prevents the development of behavioral problems in child groups. Incredible years teacher classroom management program strengthens the group management skills of education professional as well as reflexive and positive approach in education work in a child group.
Description of the intervention: The group-based method targeted at education professionals instructs child groups systematically, reduces behavioral problems among children in a group and enhances the self-regulation and emotional skills of individual children. Theoretically the intervention lies on the social learniing, attachment relationship, cognitive-behavioral and solution-focused therapies. Incredible years teacher classroom management program is used as a structured method in the early and primary education as well as in the child and family services. The group management skills of an education professional increases the academic success and emotional skills of the children (Korpershoek 2014) and reduces their aggression and mental health problems (Durlak et al. 2011; Greenberg et al. 2003; Zins et al. 2004). In the intervention the education professional is receives a training as a methodologist in group-based workshop trainings and uses the method when instructing a child group as a part of the training.
Availability of the intervention in Finland: An education professional can receive a training as an Incredible years teacher classroom management methodologist. After the method training it is possible to participate in a further training as a group instructor of the management program. In Finland the trainings are organized by the Research Center for Child Psychiatry at the University of Turku. The intervention is a part of the Incredible Years method family. The incredible Years was developed originally in the USA. There are approximately 700 methodologists in Finland, the availability of the method varies regionally.
Research- and evidence-based efficacy of the intervention: A meta-analysis including nine international, high level RCT-studies, an RCT-study (Seabra-Santos et al. 2018) and in the Nordic countries a Norwegian quasi-experimental study (Aasheim et al. 2018) have been conducted on the Incredible years teacher classroom management program (Nye 2018). The intervention has been found to effectively reduce children’s behavioral problems and increase social skills as compared to the control group (Nye 2018; Seabra-Santos et al. 2018). The ggroup management skills of the teachers using the intervention, increased as compared to the control group (Nye 2018). There is abundant research-based evidence for the effectiveness of the Incredible Years teacher classroom -management program.
Literature:
- Aasheim, M., Reedtz, C., Handegård, B.H., Martinussen, M. & Mørch, W-T. (2018). Change in teacher–student relationships and parent involvement after implementation of the Incredible years teacher classroom management programme in a regular Norwegian school setting. British Educational Research Journal.
- Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D. & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The Impact of Enchancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions. Child Development 82(1), 405–432.
- Greenberg, M. T., Weissberg, R. P., O’Brien, M. U., Zins, J. E., Fredericks, L. & Resnik, H. (2003). Enhancing school-based prevention and youth development through coordinated social, emotional, and academic learning. American Psychologist, 58, 466–474.
- Nye, E., Melendez-Torresb, G. J. and Gardner, F. (2018). Mixed methods systematic review on effectiveness and experiences of the Incredible years teacher classroom management programme. Review of Education.
- Korpershoek, H., Harms, T., de Boer, H., van Kuijk, M. & Doolaard, S. (2014). Effective classroom management strategies and classroom management programs for educational practice: A meta-analysis of the effects of classroom management strategies and classroom management programs on students’ academic, behavioural, emotional, and motivational outcomes. Groningen: RUG/GION
- Seabra-Santos, M. J., Gaspar, M. F., Major, S.O., Patras, J., Azevedo, A. F., Homem, T.C., Pimentel, M., Baptista, E., Klest, S. & Vale, V. (2018). Promoting mental health in disadvantaged preschoolers: A cluster randomized controlled trial of teacher training effects. Journal of Child and Family Studies.
- Zins, J. E., Weissberg, R. P., Wang, M. C., & Walberg, H. J. (toim.). (2004). Building academic success on social and emotional learning: What does the research say? New York: Teachers College Press.