Hard knocks on the window of opportunity

So far schools from Glasgow and Midlothian will be incorporating elements of Bounce Back in the teaching syllabus this year. It is already being taught in many Australian schools. Some 70 primary teachers from 45 Glasgow schools will initially undergo the training, although it is envisaged it will be taught in every Glasgow primary as part of Personal and Social Development.

Dr Carol Craig, chief executive for the Centre for Confidence and Well-being, believes there is a demand for this type of education, as overly cosseted children will not fulfil their true potential: "If you see children, or people, as fragile individuals who need to be protected, you end up undermining them, you lower their expectations. You put too much emphasis on how the child feels, rather than what their skills are or what they can do, and so undermine their resilience."

The psychologists who created Bounce Back, Dr Toni Noble and Dr Helen McGrath, go further, claiming lack of resilience can have a very serious negative impact on the lives of young people. They write: "The study of resilience is emerging as a powerful tool in our ongoing battle to prevent youth depression, suicide, self-harm violence and problematic substance abuse."

According to Dr Craig, our schools' over-emphasis on protecting their pupils' feelings has two causes. The first is the growth of the self-esteem movement, which originated in America before being adopted in the UK, where children are given lots of praise and are not allowed to fail. Aspirational grading often gives them better marks than they merit.

She also believes parents have to take responsibility. Craig says: "Life has inevitable ups and downs, yet on a daily basis teachers have a queue of parents complaining about their child having bad experiences or not being happy in the classroom. As professionals working with young people we are not doing them any favours by allowing this, but teachers don't feel empowered to say, I wouldn't be unduly worried' or That's life.' "People think that creating confidence is about not pointing out kids' mistakes, not using red pen or doing anything that will challenge them. But how can you learn anything if it is not challenging? Confidence is about believing you can do things - and the best enabler for confidence is having the skills to do things."

Bounce Back methodology can be used when teaching a wide variety of subjects, from science to English. In science, the pupils could look at the elasticity of an object such as a ball, watch it take a blow and bounce back to its original shape, while in English, stories could be chosen which focus on how the hero deals with adversity.

Another technique will be children having to allocate responsibility for when things go wrong by means of a moveable "meter", attributing blame to themselves, other people or bad luck. The pupils have to allocate at least 20% of responsibility onto themselves.

Dr Craig says: "Bounce Back will reinforce to children in an everyday way that bad things happen, they don't necessarily last - but they could lead you to being wiser and having greater understanding than you did before."

Ruth Barr, Quality Improvement Officer for Glasgow City Council, herself a former primary teacher, was instrumental in the city's decision to buy into the Bounce Back concept. She recognised how it tackled a stumbling block she often came across when teaching: children's reluctance to engage new learning experiences. She says: "Learning occurs when children are taken out of their comfort zone. There isn't any learning when you are taught what you already know.

"My own experience was, when you presented the kids with something new, some would get anxious and say I don't know how to do that'. But that's why they are being taught!"

A large part of the Bounce Back syllabus will be taught to Glasgow's primary children, from P1 through to P7, during "circle time" - sessions already used in most schools to help pupils broadening their awareness of themselves and others in a non-judgmental environment. Getting things in perspective and building the repertoire of how to deal with bad things when they happen will also be covered.

Ms Barr says: "If a child doesn't get picked for the school play they can fret and fall out with the person who got picked, but we can give them strategies to deal positively with the disappointment. They can wonder why they've not been picked, what can they improve on or even does it really matter? They can praise the person who got it or reflect on their own good qualities. You have the capacity either to change how you deal with things or realise you can't change and you just have to accept it and move on."

Judith Gillespie, of the Scottish Parent Teachers Council, believes that courses such as Bounce Back can help redress the over-protective culture that she feels has developed within Western society. She says: "We need to start rolling back the blanket, unwrap the cotton wool, stop treating them like victims and start bringing our kids up with a proper balance."

She adds: "We just need to look at how well children cope in amazingly adverse circumstances such as war zones and then you look at how we treat our lot. Scotland is not a particularly dangerous country. Surely Scottish children are not so inadequate that they need this protection?"

Concerns about children being traumatised by failure are an adult perspective, she says. "It's almost as if we haven't got anything else to worry about so let's create a few worries. Light and shade, happiness and sadness are a part of life. Nobody moves through life without experiencing a range of emotions; in fact we would be a sad person if we never felt grief."

Professor Brian Boyd, from the faculty of education at Strathclyde University, also welcomes Bounce Back's focus on developing resilience. He said: "Generally speaking the attribute of resilience is more important for many kids than what you might call intelligence or academic ability."

He added creating a positive learning environment where it is OK to make a mistake would also further enhance the good work already being done in Scottish classrooms. "I think one of the biggest challenges now is how you deal with the issue of failure. Most kids spend a lot of time trying to avoid failure, but as adults you realise failing is an important part of learning.

"The footballer Thierry Henry's phrase I hate to lose but I'm not afraid to fail' seems to sum it up: you have to be prepared to fail if you want to get better at something."

A Bounce Back Resilience Training Workshop will run on August 16 at the Stirling Highland Hotel, Stirling.

On the rebound: how bounce back tackles pupils' negative behaviour Now: A pupil won't participate in science, repeatedly saying, "I can't do experiments."

Using Bounce Back: The teacher gives the pupils ping-pong balls cut in half. The children knock the ruined ball, which wobbles but still manages to right itself. Now: Pupils complain about reading, saying they've never finished a book.

Using Bounce Back: The pupils read The Secret Garden. The teacher focuses on the theme of the heroine overcoming the adversity of losing both parents to cholera. Now: Pupils in the class have a negative and pessimistic outlook on classroom activities.

Using Bounce Back: In art, the pupils make their own rose-tinted glasses. Pupils put them on when they think positive thoughts. Now: The classroom teacher assigns a role in the school musical to every member of the class, even to those who can't sing, dance or act.

Using Bounce Back: The teacher explains about getting things into perspective. It is OK to feel disappointed about not getting a part in the musical, but it's not the end of the world.