Are there conversations you know you need to have with pupils, but don’t know how? Such as why they’re calling out; why they’re struggling to form good relationships; why they’re so critical of themselves for making mistakes.

Many educators realise that for pupils to navigate school with both enjoyment and success, they need help with such questions, so they can develop, alongside their knowledge of subjects, their knowledge of self: in short, their emotional literacy. And at a time when the pandemic has highlighted even more the importance of children’s good mental health, the question is not if but how to teach it.

To answer this question, Richard Evans has developed the passport – a resource which helps educators to help pupils find solutions to their more intrinsic school needs: why they aren’t putting their hand up, completing homework, taking the wider opportunities on offer. His book, ‘Independent Thinking on Emotional Literacy’, describes how to use the passport, while laying out the case for pupils’ emotional and academic learning to have equal priority.

In this session, Richard will:

• Make clear the case for emotional literacy teaching in education.
• Explain how this key intelligence can be taught to nurture a more grounded, engaged and intrinsically motivated child.
• Share examples of how the passport has successfully impacted pupils to date.
• Give delegates time and support to form a working strategy in their role, adapting the passport for their own pupils’ needs.

This course is suitable for pastoral teams, inclusion managers, intervention and nurture teachers, mentors, learning mentors, parent support advisors, ELSAs, LSAs, TAs and mental health teachers.