Eccomi pronto : implementation of a Socio-Emotional Development curriculum in a South Korean elementary school

‘Eccomi Pronto’ (EP), an elementary school socio-emotional learning curriculum that was originally developed and evaluated in Italy was translated in Korean and implemented and evaluated in 4th grade classrooms of a primary school in South Korea. Qualitative data from teachers indicated that EP improved the self-reflection and selfdirection of students, resulted in pedagogically useful insights into the psychological functioning of students, and enhanced the quality of teacher-student interaction. However, statistically significant changes in students’ engaged, academic behavior (as measured by an 8-item survey) were not noted. Teachers reported that the core of the EP curriculum was appropriate for the South Korean educational context. Teachers also recommended modifications in the follow-up learning activities to make these activities more consistent with South Korean education practices.peer-reviewe

Il counseling educativo

La ricerca ha l\u2019obiettivo di studiare il counseling nella sua dimensione educativa, cercando di comprendere quali sono le peculiarit\ue0 che lo caratterizzano e come si delinea il ruolo del counselor in un contesto educativo come la scuola. La tesi \ue8 costituita da una parte teorica e una empirica. La parte teorica si basa su un\u2019approfondita analisi della letteratura, che permette di evidenziare i nodi critici da affrontare per cercare di dimostrare che il counseling \ue8 una professione a s\ue9, con un apparato concettuale complesso e una pratica autonoma, in grado di raggiungere ampie fasce di popolazione con modalit\ue0 diverse da quelle tipiche della psicoterapia. L\u2019approfondimento delle questioni critiche ha permesso lo sviluppo della parte teorica che si struttura nei seguenti punti: a) l\u2019analisi delle definizioni, in cui sono identificati dei nuclei concettuali che permettono di tracciare delle linee guida, per arrivare ad una possibile condivisione terminologica e ad una trasparenza in relazione ai significati (Di Fabio e Sirigatti, 2005; Locke, Myers, Herr, 2001); b) la presentazione degli approcci al counseling, poich\ue9 il primo passo da compiere per costruire un modello di counseling efficace \ue8 quello di scegliere una cornice teorica di riferimento adeguata (Amenta, 1999). Sono presentati prima gli approcci psicologici pi\uf9 citati in letteratura e poi l\u2019approccio filosofico, proposto come riferimento teorico alternativo; c) la differenza tra counseling e psicoterapia che, pur essendo complessa e con confini non sempre ben delineati, rappresenta un nodo chiave per delimitare gli ambiti di intervento e applicazione delle rispettive professioni; d) le caratteristiche della consulenza educativa, in modo da evidenziare quali sono gli aspetti trovati nella letteratura e i temi chiave che qualificano il counseling come educativo. L\u2019esigenza di confronto con la pratica, nata come conseguenza delle questioni rimaste aperte in seguito all\u2019approfondimento teorico, ha portato alla nascita della parte empirica. Le domande di ricerca che hanno guidato l\u2019indagine sono due: \u201cCome si caratterizza il ruolo del counselor in un contesto educativo come la scuola?\u201d e \u201cQuali sono gli aspetti educativi del counseling?\u201d. La parte empirica presenta una ricerca qualitativa condotta in diverse scuole degli Stati Uniti. Il disegno di ricerca \ue8 uno studio di casi (collective case study \u2013 Merriam, 2001) che vede coinvolte 8 scuole statunitensi (2 elementari, 2 medie, 4 superiori) e 13 school counselor. Sono stati utilizzati strumenti qualitativi per la raccolta dei dati che hanno incluso osservazioni degli school counselor in azione, per acquisire una profonda conoscenza su questo tema; interviste focalizzate su topic generali con school counselor, studenti e altro personale scolastico; analisi dei documenti formali e informali utilizzati e scritti dagli school counselor. L\u2019analisi dei dati \ue8 qualitativa e si basa sulle indicazioni della grounded theory (open coding), che prevede di mettere delle etichette alle parti di testo significative, raggruppare le etichette e costruire delle categorie per ogni gruppo, infine raggruppare le categorie in macro-categorie (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). L\u2019elaborazione dei dati \ue8 stata svolta dapprima su un piano descrittivo, che mira a fornire descrizioni rigorose del fenomeno indagato, e poi su un piano ermeneutico. I risultati della ricerca mostrano come si caratterizza il ruolo dello school counselor e quali sono gli elementi che qualificano la dimensione educativa del counseling. L\u2019elaborazione teorica ed empirica evidenzia, infine, alcune questioni rimaste aperte e offre spunti per proseguire nella ricerca.The research aims at exploring the counseling profession in its educational dimension, trying to understand its features and the role of counselor in an educational context such as school. The thesis consists of both a theoretical and an empirical part. The theoretical section is based on a deep literature analysis, highlighting the critical questions that need to be addressed in order to prove that counseling can be a profession, with a complex conceptual frame, and an autonomous practice, capable of reaching wide sectors of the population in ways that differ from those typical of psychotherapy. The deepening of such critical matters enabled the development of the theoretical part, framed by the following points: a) analysis of definitions: this step led to the identification of conceptual units allowing to outline some guidelines, in order to gain desirable shared terminology and transparency regarding meanings (Di Fabio e Sirigatti, 2005; Locke, Myers, Herr, 2001); b) presentation of counseling approaches: the first step to build an operative counseling model is to choose an appropriate framework (Amenta, 1999). The approaches presented are the psychological ones most cited in literature, and the philosophical approach considered as an alternative framework; c) the difference between counseling and psychotherapy: this is a key issue in order to define areas of intervention and application of both professions; d) features of educational counseling: the literature analysis highlighted aspects and key issues typical of the educational dimension of counseling. The need for theory to be confronted with practice led to the development of the empirical part, as a consequence of the open questions emerged from the theoretical analysis. The research questions are the following: \u201cWhat is the role of counselor in an educational context such as school?\u201d and \u201cWhat are the educational aspects of counseling?\u201d. The empirical section presents a qualitative research conducted in different U.S. schools. The research project is a collective case study (Merriam, 2001) which involves 8 U.S. schools (2 elementary, 2 middle, 4 high) and 13 school counselors. The research instruments are qualitative and include observations of school counselors in action, in order to gain an in-depth knowledge of this theme; interviews focused on some broad topics with school counselors, students and other school staff; analysis of formal and informal documents used and written by school counselors. The method of data analysis is qualitative and is based on the grounded theory process (open coding), which requires to label the significant units of the text, group the labels and find a category for each group, and group the categories in some high-order categories (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). The data analysis is developed, first, on a descriptive level, aiming at providing rigorous descriptions of the phenomenon investigated, and then on a hermeneutical level. The research findings show what defines the role of a school counselor and which aspects characterize the educational dimension of counseling. In conclusion, the theoretical and empirical elaboration highlights some open questions and provides suggestions for further research

Formative Evaluation of Eccomi Pronto [\u2018Here I Am Ready\u2019]: a School Counselor-Led, Research-Based, Preventative Curriculum For Italian Primary Schools

Eccomi Pronto is a school counselor-led, story-based curriculum that is designed to promote simultaneously the development of early elementary school students\u2019 self-direction, active engagement in school, and pre-literacy skill development. This article reports the results of the first evaluation of a large-scale implementation of Eccomi Pronto in Italian elementary schools. The evaluation employed a mixed methods approach involving qualitative analyses of interviews and observations supported by quantitative analyses of student self-reports and teacher ratings (with a single group pre-test post-test design). Observations and interviews with parents and teachers suggested that Eccomi Pronto was associated with a number of improve- ments in students\u2019 academic behavior, including engagement, involvement, reading interest, reading comprehension, work conscientiousness, inquisitiveness, and social support of class- mates. Quantitative findings confirmed these qualitative findings, indicating that implementa- tion of the curriculum was associated with improvements in classroom climate and student engagement. Limitations of the evaluation are discussed along with suggestions for necessary follow-up assessments

Eccomi Pronto: Implementation of a Socio-Emotional Development Curriculum in a South Korean Elementary School

\u2018Eccomi Pronto\u2019 (EP), an elementary school socio-emotional learning curriculum that was originally developed and evaluated in Italy was translated in Korean and implemented and evaluated in 4 th grade classrooms of a primary school in South Kore a. Qualitative data from teachers indicated that EP im proved the self-reflection and self- direction of students, resulted in pedagogically us eful insights into the psychological functioning of students, and enhanced the quality o f teacher-student interaction. However, statistically significant changes in stude nts\u2019 engaged, academic behavior (as measured by an 8-item survey) were not noted. Teach ers reported that the core of the EP curriculum was appropriate for the South Korean edu cational context. Teachers also recommended modifications in the follow-up learning activities to make these activities more consistent with South Korean education practic es