Designed by a team at the MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, the Universities of Stirling, Glasgow and Strathclyde, and educational psychologists, the Social and Emotional Education Development programme (SEED) [1] aims to promote emotional and social wellbeing among Scottish primary school children. It draws on other school interventions and initiatives, in particular the Gatehouse Project in Australia and CASEL in the USA. SEED has obtained funding for a large scale, five year evaluation through a randomised controlled trial. This is one of the first rigorous evaluations of primary school interventions to promote social and emotional wellbeing in the UK. SEED works with the whole school community, including pupils, teachers, other school staff and parents. It allows for the development of an appropriate tailored response to school need and schools are being supported to work at both class and school level to implement change. To date the SEED programme has been refined and piloted in four Glasgow primary schools and the main trial's schools have been recruited from three Scottish Local Authorities. The trial will run from 2012 to 2017 and is currently in the Follow-up 1 phase [2]. |