Birmingham Education Support Services
https://birminghameducationsupportservices.co.uk/Page/17213
ELSA stands for Emotional Literacy Support Assistant. ELSAs are school support staff (teaching assistants and/or learning mentors) who have undergone the ‘ELSA’ programme of training by Educational Psychologists to support the emotional development of children and young people in schools.
The ELSA programme has been widely adopted as an evidence-based early intervention for children and young people in over 100 local authorities in the UK. ELSAs attend training days and group supervision sessions led by the Educational Psychology Service. They will be trained to plan and deliver individualised programmes of support for children to develop their emotional literacy, including:
- Awareness of own and other people’s emotions
- Management of stress, grief, anger and conflict
- Development of social interaction skills
- Promotion of a realistic self-concept and self-esteem
ELSAs will also be able to plan and deliver support to small groups of children to support the development of social and friendship skills. ELSA provision within schools can help lower exclusion rates, promote emotional well-being and improve academic outcomes.
The training will be offered for a second year with a significant subsidy by the local Authority. The training will be offered from January 2023.