The Psychological and Counseling Service (“Sherut Psychologi Yeutsi”—SHEFI) in the Israeli Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport is charged with promoting the wellness of all students and of the educational system as an ecosystem. This chapter reviews the process and activities of SHEFI, with a focus on the establishment of a section within SHEFI that combines units that previously implemented separate prevention and developmental programs. The new department incorporates a comprehensive developmental and preventive program based on a common goal: to promote the social–emotional and intellectual well-being of students and of the climate of our schools.
Copyright ©2003 by Corwin Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from EQ + IQ: Best Leadership Practices for Caring and Successful Schools, edited by Maurice J. Elias, Harriett Arnold, and Cynthia Steiger Hussey. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. www.corwinpress.com.
This process was accompanied by the difficulties and dilemmas typical of any change, particularly given the unique nature of the Psychological and Counseling Service as a body that combines two related professions, guidance counseling and school psychology. The lessons learned are instructive for those seeking to create large-scale, multidisciplinary, multisetting change that will lead to synergy between emotional intelligence (EQ) and IQ in schools.
SHEFI is charged with providing psychological and guidance counseling services for students, parents, and educators. The goal of the service is to assist the educational system in achieving its objectives. Alongside an emphasis on realizing learning potential and securing appropriate academic achievements, those involved with SHEFI believe that it is important to promote the emotional and social development of students, as a condition of their realizing their innate potential and as part of their positive adaptation and involvement in society at large. Through SHEFI, schools are also able to provide individual therapy and counseling services for students with special needs.
Most of the work of SHEFI is guided by a systemic approach that views the individual as part of a cluster of social systems—family, classroom, school, and community. As a body assisting policymakers at various levels in the Ministry of Education, SHEFI has several objectives:
2. To integrate psychological counseling into policy and activities to ensure the effectiveness of the educational approach
3. To make available to all principals methodologies, methods, and appropriately trained personnel to cope with the range of issues that SHEFI addresses, from four specific perspectives: that of individual students, that of the educational framework, that of the processes of teaching and learning, and that of the family and community
4. To make available to all principals indices and methods of evaluation that are applicable to the various issues that SHEFI addresses, enabling assessment of the educational system in these fields
5. To promote attention to “SHEFI considerations” in decisions and policies of various governmental ministries and authorities, ensuing that mental health implications are taken into account
SHEFI includes three sections that act to attain these goals: the School Psychological Service, which numbers 1,800 psychologists employed in 268 centers; the Guidance Counseling Section, comprising some 2,500 guidance counselors; and the Assistance and Prevention Programs Section, the establishment of which will be described next.
Until 3 years ago, eight programs operated within SHEFI: sex and family life education, drug and alcohol abuse prevention, violence prevention, child abuse prevention, improving learning processes, classroom climate, career development, and life skills. Separate administrative units and marketing mechanisms were established for each program, and each had its own team of counselors. Most of the programs were created as the result of political pressure following problems in the field; the order of the programs as listed here is the order in which they were introduced into the educational system.
The development of the life skills program in the early 1990s represented an attempt to establish a core program for all the other programs. This decision reflected a perception that the subject of life skills lay at the heart of any program and could provide a uniform base for all other programs. The life skills program was implemented mainly in elementary and junior high schools and grew from 75 schools in the first year to 850 schools operating the program this year. Reports from the field consistently reflect a high level of satisfaction with the programs. Teachers, who receive training from guidance counselors, operate the program. In an evaluation study of the program during its first 2 years, teachers reported that the program had enabled them to become better acquainted with their students and to talk with them about issues they had not addressed in the past. The program also enabled them to create numerous connection points to the curriculum, particularly regarding the humanities, the Bible, history, and literature. Despite the program’s success in the field, it operated in isolation and was not connected to the other preventive programs.
Establishment of the new section was a step toward unifying the programs under a single framework. Each of the programs operates as part of a comprehensive response aimed to ensure the well-being of the individual and the system. The following variables served as catalysts in the decision to introduce change.
Development of the concept of emotional intelligence and a greater appreciation of the importance of education involving the wider community have fueled changes in the perception of the function of guidance counseling and school psychology. These changes emphasize teamwork based on cooperation and focus less on the distinct character of each profession. This trend has also promoted cooperation between various programs in the field of mental health.
The introduction of multidisciplinary approaches into education has influenced the reorganization of learning in the schools. The creation of core programs for content area subjects, and greater cooperation across subjects in issue-focused learning, led to the need to combine different prevention and life skills units into a comprehensive program integrated into the curriculum.
Reductions of “teacher time” and “class time” available to each program created practical difficulties in implementing all the separate programs. Therefore, comprehensive intervention is needed, emphasizing, on the one hand, common aspects, while on the other focusing on the specific messages of each program.
Results of surveys comparing risk behaviors among youth (e.g., drug and alcohol use, violence, premature sexual activity) have reflected the connection between these phenomena and the efficacy of interventions that address these issues as a whole (Harel, Kenny, & Rahav, 1998). These data enhanced the understanding of the need to create a comprehensive developmental program based on a synergistic approach to the various programs.
The adoption of holistic approaches in medicine, education, and organizations reflects a change in trends of intervention toward promoting wellness of individuals and of the organization within the population as a whole. Along with this, there is less emphasis on “immunization” and prevention against social hazards and diseases. This approach is nothing short of a revolution and has even been reflected in linguistic terms. Until recently, the literature has teemed with descriptions of the causes of illnesses and with proposed methodologies to be used for curing and repairing disturbances, but there had been relatively little attention paid to the well-being of individuals and organizations. This is now changing, with new emphasis on “wellness” and positive approaches that include, but go beyond, prevention (Cowen, 1994).
SHEFI recognized that to meets its goals, it would be necessary to influence educational policymakers at all levels with a view to encouraging them to pay attention to considerations of wellness.
A new SHEFI director introduced the following administrative changes designed to create synergy of goals, methods, and structure:
1. Creation of a process to consolidate the goals of SHEFI to guide policy and to ensure that work proceeded according to plans and that results were monitored
2. Introduction of a proactive approach to building strengths, reflected in new initiatives on policy, implementation, and monitoring in such fields as coping with learning disabilities and reducing the level of violence
3. Emphasis on teamwork among psychologists, counselors, and the staff in the Assistance and Prevention Programs Section to enhance the influence of SHEFI in the system and to provide an example of a collaborative process that we advocate
4. Making the creation of the Assistance and Prevention Programs Section a priority and designing it in such a way that it could consolidate various programs into proactive activities, while developing specialization to allow for prompt and effective reaction to specific situations as they arose
The Assistance and Prevention Programs Section operates alongside and in cooperation with two other sections: the Counseling Section and the Psychology Section. Its functions are to provide SHEFI and the educational system with expertise and assistance in developing a comprehensive and holistic development program; to propose and assist in the development of preventive policy and to implement this policy in the system; and to provide professional training for a system preparing professional teams to operate the program in schools. To realize these goals, it was necessary to change the work foci in the following ways:
1. Where separate units within each section once operated their programs on a competitive basis, a sense of teamwork needed to be established to create a developmental program that provided a complete response involving all the units.
2. Where the exclusive concern of the sections previously was primary prevention, there needed to be additional specialization in secondary prevention (i.e., response to early signs of risk and crisis).
3. Where participants once worked mainly within one section, joint work with the other sections in areas of policy and program adjustment was needed to meet the unique needs of each district and school.
To achieve these goals, the Assistance and Prevention Section was created, in part with consultation from Dr. Maurice Elias of Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. Structurally, the Assistance and Prevention Section and the units within it were not made subsidiary parts of the Counseling Section, but elevated to the status of an equivalent section combining members of various disciplines and offering its services both to the Psychological and the Counseling sections. The structure of its units is as follows.
This unit was created by the unification of three groups: life skills counselors, classroom atmosphere counselors, and career counselors. The function of this unit is to lead a holistic process combining the developmental aspects of promoting well-being with the creation of supportive social environments and the promotion of empowering conditions. This unit is responsible for developing Life Skills and EQ, promoting a healthy school climate, building children’s ability to cope with the various roles of life (family, career development, etc.), and providing an integrative foundation for focused aspects of prevention, such as drugs and alcohol. The unit also teaches counselors how to create foci of intervention based on an analysis of needs and developmental tasks, the composition of the population, diagnosis of the system and its educational approach, and how to make adaptations to existing curricula.
The Preventive Units comprise the following areas of concern: violence prevention, drug and alcohol abuse and smoking prevention; prevention of child abuse; and sex and family life education. These units are responsible for developing methodologies and for providing the training for individuals to develop expertise in these fields. Each unit operates both separately and in the context of the other areas. They are responsible for integrating messages of prevention to promote overall quality of life and for operating focused prevention programs according to developmental needs and the needs of specific populations.
This unit is responsible for assisting the age-based divisions in the development of meaningful dialogue between learners and teachers relating to the learning process and the organization of learning and learning strategies. It also is responsible for attention to the pedagogical aspects of the developmental program.
This new unit has been charged with providing a rapid response to new issues according to emerging needs in the educational system. For example, this unit has been particularly active in the context of violence and terror in Israeli schools and communities.
Creating a curriculum for the developmental program was one of the joint tasks undertaken by the heads of the Assistance and Prevention Section units, in cooperation with representatives from the Counseling Section and the Psychologists Section. The basis for preparation of the curriculum was taken from the approach of Emory Cowen (1994; see Figure 12.1). He identified five factors that promote mental health and a sense of “wellness,” and these provided us with the organizational foundations around which we mapped program content. These five factors are a sense of competency and control over the course of life (intrapersonal), interpersonal relationships and attachments, acquiring age-appropriate abilities, being in wellness-enhancing environments, and having skills for effective coping in situations of stress, crisis, and difficulty. Clearly, while Cowen’s concepts predated work in EQ, the two ideologies share great synergy.
The five factors defined the model of the “whole” we sought to produce, both through the comprehensive developmental curriculum and through focused preventive interventions. These factors were the means of creating a language common to all prevention program developers as well as to life skill curriculum developers. The factors in the model are interrelated, and therefore a program that emphasizes one factor can simultaneously relate to and promote the rest of the factors.
Figure 12.1 Five Pathways That Promote Mental Health and Wellness
A basis for defining well-being was provided by the definition drafted in 1970 by the Joint Commission on Mental Health of Children, which noted that mentally healthy persons are capable of seeing events and circumstances that affect themselves and their world and, in most cases, of coping with these realities. They are capable of accepting and controlling sexual and aggressive urges. They are capable of learning and then of implementing what they have learned; they have confidence in their own competence. They possess values according to which their lives are built. They have a sense of group affiliation, and they are confident of their identity. Socially and emotionally healthy individuals continue to develop throughout life and show flexibility in encountering new tasks and situations.
Thus wellness was defined not in negative terms, as the absence of mental illness, but rather according to the extent to which factors promoting well-being are present. An emphasis was placed on the synergistic presence of components as mutual factors, rather than as competitors. The definition is not phrased in absolute terms, but rather along a spectrum. Wellness may be viewed in terms of a range of biopsychosocial, emotional, intellectual, and behavioral manifestations.
To translate this understanding into reality, it was necessary to create a curriculum to serve as the centerpiece for a comprehensive and long-term developmental program directed at the entire population, rather than only toward at-risk populations. The curriculum provides “tools” for those operating the program in the school: counselors, principals, and teachers. By means of the curriculum, the program can be adapted to the developmental and environmental needs of the various student populations. The structure of the curriculum includes not only content, but also congruent processes by which content is selected and conveyed. It must meet academic criteria and be “user-friendly.” Finally, it must be open to observation and measurement; components and processes must be defined in such a manner as to enable the development of evaluation indices.
The curriculum structure can be understood by an overview of its chapters, as follows:
• Rationale behind the preparation of the developmental program. This chapter includes the program’s basic assumptions, goals, and principles of operation; a description of the characteristics of the school that functions according to the program; presentation of the learning process; a selection of tools for use in implementing the program; and a list of capabilities and know-how required on the part of those acting as consultants or who are trainers and implementers of the program.
• Development of capabilities according to age. This chapter describes the perception of different ages as periods that are sensitive to specific intervention on particular subjects, the characteristic dilemmas of each age, key developmental situations, and the place of significant adults (parents, teachers) in the developmental process.
• Diagnosis and evaluation. This chapter includes guiding questions on diagnosing the school system and the school’s educational approach. It also provides information on academic content that will assist in emotional and social learning and enhancing the relationship between IQ and EQ. Finally, additional guiding questions help to diagnose the school population and to adapt the program to different populations.
• Guidelines for using the curriculum. This chapter describes the development of a program through different organizing elements, including student competencies, values, life situations, dilemmas, and current events. Also discussed is the use of life skills texts written for elementary schools and the use of the middle school program.
• Defining the space that enables growth. This chapter describes how to create an environment that enables basic needs to be met, including security, belonging, capability, and autonomy. Also discussed are the environmental characteristics of the safe school, the importance of mutual respect and basic values for the existence of interpersonal relations, the school as a learning community, and involvement in the school of the broader community through operation of the curriculum program.
• Mapping content according to fields. This chapter describes the importance of a sense of capability and control of the course of life (interpersonal), of connections and relationships between individuals and social relations (interpersonal), and of coping effectively with difficulties, pressure, and crises. Each of these fields is detailed according to the following questions: Why develop this component? What need does it meet? For what does it provide an infrastructure? What will happen as the result of intervention in this component? Which skills, attitudes, and types of knowledge should be developed? How can this component be connected to the subjects studied in the school curriculum? What additional concepts should be addressed in this context? Also included is consideration of dilemmas facing teachers and parents guiding the teaching of each component.
• Mapping content according to key intervention foci for each age. This chapter describes the five age groups chosen for intervention: K–Grade 2; Grades 3–4; Grades 5–6; Grades 7–9; and Grades 10–12. For each age group, a number of characteristic foci were chosen around which we propose that learning be organized. For example, foci for early childhood include starting kindergarten and moving on to Grade 1, playgroups, children and their families, the class as a social group, controlled consumption of the media, and dyadic and group relationships. A similar set of issues serves as the focus for each age group, framed in a developmentally appropriate manner. Each of these foci is detailed according to the following guiding questions: Which skills and what knowledge would we like to develop that will foster a sense of competency, attachments and interpersonal relations, and positive coping with stress, crisis, and difficult situations? What kind of environment should we create to enable learning? What will happen as a result of intervention in this area? To which other areas do we want to relate? Which concepts need to be clarified? These questions serve as key points in the creation of interventions.
Other sections cover the integration of special subjects and targeted prevention areas into the developmental program, give suggestions for when and how to provide these targeted interventions across the grade levels, and provide cross listings and content maps for health promotion interventions and focused intervention in emergencies—all concepts that are part of the program. Annotated references are also included.
Life Skills Texts for Elementary School
Life skills texts are published in three volumes, Grades 1–2, Grades 3–4, and Grades 5–6. Each volume includes four sections: an introduction and three chapters of specific lesson activities. Within the introduction, the first chapter, “Capabilities,” includes self-development, social skills, interpersonal communication, assertiveness, problem solving and decision making, and coping with stress and change. The second chapter, “Developmental Issues,” includes learning processes, sex education and family life education, and professional development and careers. The third chapter, “Preventive Issues,” includes preventing drug and alcohol abuse and smoking, preventing violence in school, and coping with situations of child abuse. The texts also include the theoretical rationale, suggestions for integrating the various units in the program, suggestions for integrating the life skills program and the academic curriculum, adaptations and comments from Jewish sources, and suggestions for integrating Israeli Educational Television broadcasts.
Life Skills Program for Middle School sections: “Windows to Adolescence”
The life skills program for middle school sections constitutes a continuation of the elementary program but is ordered differently. The central theme behind the organization of the written program is the “image of the desirable adult,” as published in a collection of position papers by the Pedagogic Secretariat and in the Memorandum of the Director-General of the Ministry of Education.
The program is structured according to the analogy of the Windows computer operating system. Based on an analysis of the adult character and extensive focus-group discussions with youth, educators, parents, and professionals, 15 main “windows” were selected:
• Family
• Learning
• School as an organization
• Career
• Peer group
• Society
• Individual identity
• Worldview and values
• Capabilities
• Transitions
• Situations of stress
• Danger and crisis
• Life in the environment of psychoactive substances
• Health
• Leisure
Each window includes the following: rationale sentences connecting the issue to the character of the adult; a pool of key questions for discussions relating to the subject of that window; suggestions for sources that implementers and students can consult, including theoretical material and referrals to activities; and referrals to other, related windows that are recommended to be opened simultaneously. Each main window opens onto secondary windows relating to the characteristics of the age group; the functions of adolescents within the different circles in which they act; the development of individual identity, worldview, and values; the development of life skills; and coping with common life situations encountered during adolescence.
The windows approach enables the derivation of specific programs for prevention and life skills development, sex and family life education, improving learning processes, career development, and improving class atmosphere, but it does so in an integrative, flexible way that is linked to ongoing areas of particular relevance to students. In addition, special attention is given to applications related to Jewish education and to life in the Arab sector. The program, which represents a collaboration of all parts of SHEFI under the leadership of the Holistic Unit, is published both in book form and on the SHEFI Web site (www.education.gov.il/shefi/ [in Hebrew]).
The Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport decided to address “The Right to Dignity and the Duty to Respect” as its central theme to introduce the new millennium. This was chosen in response to a rising rate of violence in the culture and a concern to keep it from the schools, as well as to prepare students to be nonviolent in their communities. As a professional body, all sections of SHEFI are taking part in a holistic effort to provide principals (at all levels) with methodologies, methods, professional staff, indices, and evaluation tools relating to the subject of violence in the education system. Recent and ongoing activities include the following:
• Inviting academics who study violence to participate in a joint discussion on the topic
• Preparing documents presenting policy recommendations for the Ministry of Education at the national, district and local, and individual school levels
• Writing director-general’s memoranda intended to empower schools to take responsibility for addressing this subject
• Connecting with key figures in local school districts to recruit the broader community to joint activities to address violence
• Publishing a bulletin (Shefiton; published September 1998) for counselors and psychologists devoted to the subject of violence in the education system. (The bulletin includes reviews of research undertaken in Israel and around the world on this subject, a review of various tools used in diagnosing and mapping the phenomenon, articles describing various strategies for preventing and treating violence, and examples of initiatives in the field by schools and psychological services that have created change in the level of violence. The publication also was distributed to principals.)
• Training teams of counselors to act as mentors for professionals in creating school atmospheres that encourage growth and reduce violence in the context of other preventive efforts
• Building an index for examining the level of violence in schools and issuing a kit for school principals providing guidance in self-diagnosis of the level of violence in the school and identification of foci of violence
• Preparing a position paper by members of the section articulating how human dignity is addressed within the framework of the life skills developmental program and as part of the special subjects in which they specialize, toward placing the issue of violence prevention in a broader, integrative, wellness perspective
• Enhancing SHEFI participation in public committees and other governmental efforts to address violence
The special development and implementation of the life skills program in schools are influenced by emerging trends in the various districts. No effort is made to impose a single model. We encourage the special development of the program and the creation of connections to central issues being led by the district. An example of broad-based cooperation between SHEFI and the district may be found in the development and implementation of emotional intelligence in the Tel Aviv district.
At the initiative of the district superintendent of schools at the time, Dr. Josef Levi, it was decided that the development of emotional intelligence would be integrated both directly and indirectly into the curricula of district schools. To this end, several localities were chosen for the introduction of an experimental program: Kiryat Ono, Ramat Hasharon, Tel Aviv, Givatayim, and Herzliya. The base or foundation of the program is the life skills curriculum, which teaches the basic skills of emotional intelligence. But each school and community creates its own “house of learning” on this foundation through the ways in which it creates a context for the skills to become part of the entire educational program and the life of each child, classroom, school building, and neighborhood.
“Binat Halev”—the Wisdom of the Heart—describes the way in which each school develops an approach to school reform and transformation that touches each faculty member and each student. Each locality develops its own unique model, assisted by professionals from SHEFI. A district steering committee is established, including district and SHEFI personnel. At the same time, local steering committees, including representatives from education and other aspects of the municipal government, are established to lead the process of change and to bring it to the level of the community, as well as the school. The underlying goal is to introduce the language of emotional intelligence in all the district’s activities and among all partners: local authorities, inspectors, principals, school and kindergarten teachers, students and parents. Through this activity, a district declares its responsibility to develop the emotional and social aspects of students, alongside intellectual aspects.
The process of change undergone by SHEFI in general, and by the sections in particular, has entailed numerous difficulties and challenges. Recognition of the difficulties, and a willingness to develop meaningful dialogue about these difficulties, is what transforms them into challenges. These challenges have broad relevance for those administering changes in programs at the national, state, district, and local levels.
The transition from separate to joint work among the sections and the units sometimes creates a feeling that someone’s “territory” is being “invaded.” Forging joint work demands that the different sections and units define the distinct added value of each and the areas of overlap that offer a chance for teamwork and cooperation. Strong, persistent, and visionary leadership is essential for this to take place.
Discrepancies sometimes emerge between the development of programs and inservice training and the actual implementation of programs in schools. The quantifiable variable is the extent to which the investment in the development of professionals actually reaches the field in general and each child in particular. A key issue in this context is determining the target population and goal. Is training intended to empower professionals in the field (counselors and psychologists), is it intended to have a direct and clear impact on schools, or should it accomplish both? Genuine change requires a dedication to ensuring that school and child-based impact takes place.
The following are examples of issues that are part of continuing discussions: (a) Is the level of implementation of a program happening according to the original intentions of the planners? (b) Is the implementation of a program characterized by flexibility? Do various collaborators tend to listen to each other and to change accordingly? (c) Which work procedures between the teams focused on curriculum and program development and those focused on implementation are most effective? (d) When does the Assistance and Prevention Unit, as a development body, get drawn into the effort to meet short-term needs, and how does it balance long-term and short-term concerns? (e) What is the responsibility of SHEFI as a centralized organization to initiate processes in the field? What will be the impact of trends toward the school-based management approach on attempts to have a coherent national response to issues of prevention and life skills development?
Should separate programs be operated for each prevention, life skills, and special interest area, or should a broad-based holistic program be created, including key prevention messages, with direct prevention messages conveyed through focused interventions within the overall program? The transition from a separate “unit” structure to a holistic approach creates tension and controversy, as well as opportunity.
Opting for a process of change was not the result of a unanimous decision. Doubt, hesitation, and compromise accompanied it. This was and is clearly a journey rather than a one-time event; the rules of the game as we knew them are being broken, and we devise new ones as we go along. The understanding that uncertainty and difficulty are part of the process and the willingness to face them actively make this a joint venture of creativity. As we share the experience of creating new products, the process of change and collaboration is clarified further. Yet we know all too well that circumstances can and will arise that provide continuous and daunting challenges. Nonetheless, through our ongoing evaluation efforts and attempts at anticipating future needs, we feel that children benefit from the changes we are making, and this is our ultimate goal.
Cowen, E. L. (1994). The enhancement of psychological wellness: Challenges and opportunities. American Journal of Community Psychology, 22, 144–179.
Harel, J., Kenny, D., & Rahav, G. (1998). Youth in Israel: Social welfare, health and risk behaviors from an international perspective. Jerusalem: Brookdale Institute. (In Hebrew)