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ELSA is an initiative developed and supported by educational psychologists, who apply their professional knowledge of children’s social and emotional development to areas of need experienced by pupils. They provide on-going professional supervision to help maintain high quality in the work undertaken by ELSAs, thereby helping to ensure safe practice for ELSAs and pupils alike. She was appointed Area Principal Educational Psychologist for the western area of Hampshire in 2007 and went on to co-author ‘Emotional Wellbeing: an Introductory Handbook’ with Gillian Shotton. Published in 2008, it was written specifically as a handbook for ELSAs whilst also being relevant to a wider range of children’s workers. She has since helped other educational psychology services to implement ELSA in their local authority and continues to provide guidance and support to those interested in this work. Sheila published the ELSA Trainers’ Manual in 2009 to support the introduction of this approach more widely. Wow what a fascinating read this book is. I absolutely love it. I am currently an ELSA delivering to special needs students covering a variety of needs. I only received the book today and haven’t been able to put it down. Thank you.’ (Jan Roberts, ELSA) ELSAs are not counsellors and do not need to follow such strict confidentiality guidelines. The key point is respect for pupils. Liaison with selected other staff in school is usually beneficial. The question to ask is ‘how much do they need to know?’ A useful principle is to protect sensitive information that the pupil may have shared in confidence. It is respectful for an ELSA to ask a pupil if they may share information with others and then agree with them what will be said and to whom. Share generalities rather than sensitive personal details. The last thing an ELSA needs is to lose the pupil’s trust. The usual guidelines about safeguarding always apply of course. Do ELSAs mainly work with individuals or groups? Excellent ELSAs: Top Tips for Emotional Literacy Support Assistants by Sheila Burton (with Fiona Okai)
ELSA Registration – ELSA Network ELSA Registration – ELSA Network
Most programmes would last for at least half a term and up to a term, depending on the child and circumstances. Typically they are likely to be 8-12 weeks long, as time is needed to build rapport and identify appropriate targets. If they go on longer than this it suggests that clear programme aims have not been set. It may also create over-dependency upon the ELSA. An ELSA programme is not expected to remediate every need a pupil has. It should have a specific focus. (See Programme and session planning in Good Practice section.) Once the programme aims have been met, it may be appropriate to move from a planned programme to some informal follow-up support while the youngster generalises new learning into the wider school context. This maintenance support would involve seeing the pupil less frequently or more briefly than during the programme itself. Some pupils may at a later date receive a further period of intervention with different programme aims. Where should ELSA work be done?The ELSA Network is managed by a steering group of educational psychologists with experience of establishing and managing ELSA training and supervision in local areas. They do this voluntarily in their own time. The current composition of the steering group is: regularly attend half-termly supervision in small groups (with a recommended maximum of 8 ELSAs per group and duration of 2 hours per session), led by a qualified educational psychologist have attended (or are currently attending) a full ELSA training course delivered by one or more fully qualified educational psychologists (courses lasting a minimum of 5 but more usually 6 days)
ELSA Forum – ELSA Network ELSA Forum – ELSA Network
Sheila Burton, who set up the original ELSA projects, graduated in Psychology in 1975, followed by completion of a PGCE. She worked in a special educational needs assessment nursery, before taking a break to have her three children. After this, she returned to a range of work, which included Portage home tutoring and special needs teaching, followed by SENCo posts in infant and junior schools. During this time, Sheila gained a Diploma in Advanced Educational Studies (SEN).are currently delivering bespoke programmes of support to individual pupils and sometimes small groups An Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) is a trained, school based learning support assistant. Their role is to support the emotional wellbeing of pupils. They are trained by a team of Educational Psychologists and receive ongoing group supervision. Who ELSAs work with Who Emotional Literacy Support Assistants work with, ELSA training for professionals, and list of registered schools. Emotional Literacy Support Assistant This will depend on the age of the child and the context of the work. Normally ELSAs plan to meet with a pupil weekly. Half an hour to an hour is often a good length of time for a session. It allows time to
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