The importance of teachers’ feelings of self efficacy in developing their pupils’ social and emotional learning: A Norwegian study of teachers’ reactions to the Second Step program

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore teachers’ (n = 17) experience with the Second Step program (1986) as a tool for teaching social competence through semi-structured interviews. Findings suggest that use of the program had a positive influence on the teachers’ overall teaching techniques and their broader social behaviour. The majority of the teachers reported that they felt they had become more democratic and student-centred in their teaching, and more socially skilled—in particular, more aware of individuals’ needs and problems by using the program. Further, results also suggest using the program to promote better collaboration with parents.

Keywords

qualitative Second Step social change theory social emotional learning teachers’ efficacy

There is a body of research identifying the importance of addressing students’ social-emotional learning as well as the academic performance (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011; Zins, Bloodworth, Weissberg, & Walberg, 2007). Related to this call for social-emotional learning for students is the need to equip professional teachers with appropriate tools for meeting such challenges in schools. Second Step (1986) is a social competence program, developed by an American non-profit organization, the Committee for Children. North American evaluation studies of Second Step have shown that 2nd and 3rd grade students who are taught the curriculum become less physically aggressive and experience more positive social interactions (Frey, Hirschstein, & Guzzo, 2001; Frey, Nolen, Edstrom, & Hirschstein, 2005; Grossman et al.,1997; McMahon, Washburn, Felix, Yakin, & Childrey, 2000) Similarly, a Norwegian evaluation study found positive effects of the program in 5th and 6th grades (Holsen, Iversen, & Smith, 2009; Holsen, Smith, & Frey, 2008). However, when evaluating social competence training programs, the focus has mainly been on investigating how students rather than teachers respond to such programs. This article addresses the question of how teachers experienced their use of the Second Step program as a tool for teaching social competence in four Norwegian primary schools (grades 1 to 7).

Second Step

Second Step is designed to promote children’s social competence. The program is based on Bandura’s social learning theory (1986) and similar models of social information processing (Crick & Dodge, 1994). There has been extensive research on the ways that socially skilled children think and respond in their social interactions (Committee for Children, 2002).

Second Step is designed to help children learn and develop skills in the areas ofempathy, perspective taking, problem solving, impulse control, and anger management. In empathy training, children are taught the empathy skills needed to identify emotions, and to recognize the possible causes of the emotions thatoccur in their interactions with others. In the impulse control and problem solving segment, children are taught to respond to social interactions thoughtfully, rather than impulsively. To do this, they learn problem-solving steps that promote a neutral rather than hostile orientation towards their peers. In the area of anger management, children are taught how to manage their own anger constructively.

Second Step is a clearly structured, pre-packaged program, comprising 20–28 lessons for each grade (e.g. grades 1–7, corresponding to ages 6- to 13-years-old). The lessons are intended for use in weekly training and are expected to be followed-up during school time to reinforce the competencies that are covered in the lessons. Each lesson contains a pictorial representation of a life situation as a learning stimulus, and prescribes role-play activities to demonstrate and provide a stimulus for discussing the skills at issue.

To assist teachers in presenting the program, they are provided with guidelines and an instructional video. Both guidelines and video emphasize teachers as role models, and in particular their roles as counsellor and guide to students. This accompanying material stresses the need for teachers to remain ‘neutral’ with respect to input from the students; the reason for this is to stimulate the students’ reflections on their solutions and their ability to solve problems and conflicts independently. The core principle of Second Step is to help children to learn new ways of thinking and responding in their everyday interactions with peers.

The teacher's role in Second Step

Second Step is based on social learning theory (Bandura, 1977), which posits that individuals who are valued as behavioural or social models can positively affect the perceived importance of an activity, and can evoke desirable behavioural responses by providing observers with ongoing visual feedback. In general, and specifically in the Second Step program, not only the peers but also teachers are perceived to be such models, because they are the main facilitators of socially desirable behaviour in school children (Durlak et al., 2011; Jennings & Greenberg 2009). Pianta (1999) argues that teachers are increasingly important in the process of emotional regulation, through their ability to help children to label, manage, and express emotions they experience in the classroom. Therefore, to implement Second Step effectively, teachers need to be conscious of their own modelling behaviour.

Correspondingly, Zins et al. (2007) suggest teacher training to be of major importance in order to develop the skills needed for addressing social emotional learning and effective classroom management. Such skills can also contribute to teachers’ management of their own stress more effectively and to engage in problem solving more skilfully in their everyday life.

The role of self efficacy and teacher learning

Bandura’s (1986) self-efficacy model provides a significant insight into which aspects facilitate teachers’ motivation and awareness of their teaching behaviour (Bandura, 1993; Goddard, Hoy, & Woolfolk Hoy, 2004; Klassen, Tze, Betts, & Gordon, 2011; Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001). Teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs seem to operate as determinants for actions through their perceptions of their own capability to take action or perform an intended behaviour (Bandura, 1986).

The most effective way of developing and influencing self-efficacy beliefs is through (positive) mastery experience (Bandura, 1986, 1993). Such an experience that is based on positive perceptions of one’s actions can reinforce one’s belief in one’s self-efficacy, which again functions as a strong determinant of behaviour in various situations. Similarly, a negative mastery experience can decrease self-efficacy belief and contribute to the abandonment of an intended behaviour (Bandura, 1993; Goddard et al., 2004; Klassen et al.2011; Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy, & Hoy, 1998). Thus, if teachers experience positive mastery of actions while teaching Second Step, it is likely that their behaviour will be repeated. Positive mastery experiences can strengthen self-efficacy beliefs, which also may lead to behavioural change (Bandura, 1993; Klassen et al., 2011; Tschannen-Moran et al., 1998). The positive cycle of mastery experience that leads to increased self-efficacy beliefs is strongly associated with behavioural change (Bandura, 1993, Klassen et al., 2011; Tschannen-Moran et al., 1998). This process might parallel Flay’s (2002) point that learning is a long term process that includes review, reinforcement, and extension to persist over time.

Research questions

There still is a gap between research and practice in implementing research-based programs in schools; research in the field has called for the inclusion of practitioner-based descriptions of how social emotional programs work in a real life context (Durlak et al., 2011; Elias, Zins, & Weissberg, 2003). The primary goal of this investigation is to give voice to the teachers as users of the program and how they experienced the program as a tool for teaching social competence. Therefore the following question is addressed: How did the teachers experience the use of the Second Step program in relation to their classroom work?

Method

Selection criteria for schools

The schools were selected from the list provided from the Norwegian National Committee for Public Health of schools that had purchased the program. Our selection criteria for including schools in this study were: Location; extent of formalization of the program within the schools; and period of time using the program. The four participating primary schools are located in different areas of Norway (East, West, Central and Mid-North) and were selected at random within these different locations. The extent of formalization referred to the schools’ inclusion of an official school policy on the use of the program in policy documents. The schools were surveyed and reported that formalization ranged from ‘not at all’ through ‘partly’ (i.e. optional use by teachers), to ‘firmly’ (mandatory use by teachers). The schools in this study were chosen to include two schools that had ‘partly’ formalized policies and two schools that had ‘firmly’ formalized policies in the use of the program. Each of the schools chosen for participation had used the program for a period exceeding four years. This criterion was selected to maximize the reliability of the data by excluding ‘beginner-enthusiasts’. The schools were selected through telephone interviews with principals who were then asked to participate if their school met the selection criteria. All four cases were primary schools encompassing grades 1–7. The first two schools used a whole-school approach and the latter two schools used an individual-teacher approach.

School A is a medium-sized primary school in the East of Norway with a total of 370 pupils and two parallel classes in each grade. This school had been using Second Step as a formalized strategy for about seven years. All 25 teachers used the program and had received specific training for this purpose. The process of implementation followed a four-year process of examining, testing, and evaluating the program, and then formalizing it as a mandatory strategy for all of the teachers. The principal had extensive knowledge of and experience with the program. This was a factor in the school’s decision to choose this program as the core of its social-competence training.

School B is a large primary school in the third largest city in Norway, with a total of 720 pupils with four parallel classes in each grade. The school principal reported that the school had used Second Step for about five years as a formalized, mandatory strategy. At the time of data collection, only 28 of the 47 teachers reported that they had received specific training, and although the use of the program was intended to be mandatory, only 19 reported that they used the program. The implementation of the program had followed a two-step introduction, with implementation in 1st grade in the first year, and in the remaining grades from the second year onwards. The school principal chose to implement Second Step as a whole-school effort to accomplish the social goals of the national curriculum. The formalization of the program was achieved by developing a social curriculum plan in which Second Step was presented as the main strategy for addressing social competence training.

School C is located in Central Norway. The school has 250 pupils and two parallel classes in each grade. It had used the program for five years, but only by individual teachers in the lower grades (grades 1–4). Of 24 teachers, five had received specific training, and eight used the program. The school had previously chosen a different social skills training program that was used by several of the teachers; thus, the Second Step was not implemented as a whole-school effort, and was optional for teachers.

School D is located in the West, just outside Norway’s second largest city. The school has 265 pupils, with two parallel classes in each grade. Second Step had been used for five years. Of the 22 teachers, seven had received training, and nine used the program. The implementation of the program was originally intended to be a whole-school approach. The social curriculum plan was developed as a formalized strategy for accomplishing the social goals of the national curriculum. However, the relevant policy document was not finalized until 2003, and the Second Step program was not made mandatory for the teachers to use, but was presented as one of the options for teachers to choose, among several other programs.

Respondents

The 17 teachers—two males and 15 females, four from each of three schools, and five from one school—had all used the program and were selected by their principals. Table 1 is an overview of the most important characteristics of the respondents.
Table 1.
Summary of characteristics of the teachers' sample

Cases
Implementation Teaching (grade) Formal education Amount of training received Used Second Step for (years)

School A Mandatory and implemented as a whole school effort 3rd grade Elementary teacher 1 day course 3 years

5th grade Elementary teacher 1 day course 5 years

3rd grade Elementary teacher 1 day course 3 years

2nd grade Preschool teacher 1 day course 5 years

5th grade Elementary teacher 1 day course 2 years

School B Voluntary use and used only by single teachers 3rd grade Elementary teacher none 3 years

3rd grade Elementary teacher 1 day course 2 years

1st grade Elementary teacher 1 day course 2 years

3rd grade Preschool teacher 1 day course 3 years

School C Mandatory and implemented as a whole school effort 2nd grade Elementary teacher 1 day course (twice) 3 years

1st grade Preschool teacher 1 day course 5 years

5th grade Elementary teacher 1 day course 5 years

4th grade Elementary teacher 1 day course 3 years

School D Voluntary use and used only by single teachers 3rd grade Preschool teacher 1 day course 4 years

2nd grade Elementary teacher 1 day course 4 years

7th grade Elementary teacher 1 day course 4 years

4th grade Elementary teacher 1 day course 3 years

Interview guidelines and data collection

Interview guidelines were developed to ensure that we gained the same basic information from all of the teachers. The guidelines contained an outline of topics to be covered, with suggested questions to be explored during the interview. The interviews varied in duration from 30 to 60 minutes, and were conducted in the schools during work hours. All informants gave their consent for the interviews to be audiotaped. To protect the identity of the participants, no names were audiotaped. Background questions were addressed only in relation to the participants’ formal education and how long they had been using the program.

Analyses

Analyses were conducted using the software application QSR NVivo 2. The interviews were verbatim transcribed by the first author and imported into the application. We conducted the analyses using the five-step procedure described in Framework Analyses (Lacey & Luff, 2001), as follows: (1) familiarizing (i.e. transcribing, listening, and reading the interviews to gain a first impression of the data); (2) identifying a thematic framework (i.e. coding all of the documents into a broad category called ‘teachers’ assessment and experience’, which included all statements related to judgements and evaluations of the program as a method, and the teachers’ positive or negative experiences in using the program); (3) indexing, by identifying specific meaning units and recoded these into various sub-categories, reflecting different aspects of teachers’ assessments and perceptions of, for example, the program as a teaching tool/method, its effects on the students, the rationale for adopting or continuing to use the program, their own teaching technique, and general experience with the program. (4) charting (i.e. using our framework to draw comparisons between the respondents and between the schools); the process of charting overlapped to some extent with (5), mapping and interpreting, in which we compared, contrasted, and interpreted the data by searching for patterns, concepts, and explanations expressed by the respondents.

Verification

We conducted a pilot test, comprising an interview of two teachers who had experience with the program, to assess the usefulness of the interview guidelines. These teachers were asked to comment on the themes and questions in the guidelines; they reported that the guidelines were a functional tool to target information on the implementation and use of the program, and proposed minor changes. A question about policy documents in the schools was changed to include activity plans, and a question concerning teachers’ perceptions of changed practice in the classroom was added. These teachers are not included in the final sample.

To enhance the validity of the interview transcriptions, they were separately analysed and coded by both authors. These analyses were compared and discussed to ensure that we had captured the respondents’ intended meanings. When differences occurred the original transcription was reconsulted to gain consensus. Based on the qualitative nature of this study, we aimed not to obtain statistical generalizability but to look for similarities and differences and to compare teachers’ experiences; this aim corresponds to Kvale’s (1996) analytic generalizability.

Ethical considerations

Participation in the study was voluntary and based on the informed consent of both teachers and principals. The study is consistent with the requirements of the Ethics Committee of the Norwegian Social Science Services. Data were stored in a way that secured the respondents’ anonymity: No names were audiotaped, and the schools are identified only by an alphabetical capital letter in presentations. In the description of the teacher sample, the teachers are presented randomly under each school; because there were only two males in the sample, gender is not identified in Table 1.

Results

The findings shed light on Norwegian teachers’ experience of Second Step as a method for teaching social competence. During the analyses, we extracted descriptions that were common to many of the interviews. All of the teachers expressed a positive attitude towards the program, and saw benefits in teaching social competence. All teachers but one reported having received training in the program, and all of the teachers had more than two years of experience with teaching the program (range, 2–5 years). The analysis of teachers’ experience revealed teachers’ reflections on how they perceived the program to have affected their interaction with pupils and influenced them more broadly. Fifteen of the 17 teachers reported such influence, apparently without significant differences between the schools.

Teachers overall experience with using the Second Step program

All of the teachers reported a need for teaching social competence skills to their students. First, they reflected that children nowadays have lower levels of social skills than some years ago. Second, social interactions and conflicts constituted a major part of the teachers’ everyday life in school. Nevertheless, all teachers claimed that using the program had made them more sensitive and raised their consciousness of the importance of social competence training. For some, it had also had an influence on their perception of themselves as taking the role as a counsellor and guide, facilitating the student’s own reflection processes.

Changing classroom practice

The majority of respondents reported that they perceived the use of the problem-solving method in the program to have influenced their way of talking and listening to the students.

I am more democratic, in a way, engaging the students in giving advice and choosing solutions themselves … It’s more like me not knowing best all the time. (School B, Teacher 1)

When I started teaching, I thought you had to be very strict and not allow for discussion; but using the program, and especially the problem-solving method, has made me see that there might be several ways of solving a conflict, and that it’s important to take the children seriously to allow them to learn from their conflicts. (School D, Teacher 3)

All of the teachers experienced a feeling of raised consciousness and felt that throughout the use of the program they had become more aware of how to read and address social situations, and they all perceived this to have made them better teachers.

I have become much more humble in my relationship with the students … I am more aware of what I say and how I say it. (School B, Teacher 1)

I think I work more fairly now, focusing on contributing to each student’s development and growth … It’s like helping them develop greater self-confidence and self-worth. (School D, Teacher 1)

One teacher reported that the explicit focus of the problem-solving method of encouraging the children to find their own solution was somewhat difficult to learn initially.

In the beginning, I had to concentrate a lot to focus on answering the students with the same sentence that they used in their suggestions, to stay neutral and encourage them to reflect on their own solutions; but now I feel that I have integrated this into my technique. (School C, Teacher 1)

But this practice had now become an integrated teaching technique in a more overall sense. That is, by using the technique of answering the students by repeating part or all of their questions, rather than providing prompt answers, this seemed to encourage reflective thinking and problem solving also in other areas than those related to social interactions, for instance in mathematics or English language teaching.

Another respondent reported increased flexibility and open-mindedness as a teacher as a result of using the program, and now accepted that there might be several solutions to a problem when discussing it with students and colleagues.

Using the program has influenced my way of handling and trying new things. Earlier, I perceived that there was one, and only one solution for handling a situation … the use of the program, and especially its problem-solving method, have made me see that there could be several solutions to problem … which before I would never have allowed for … using the program has made me more open-minded and flexible in my discussions with both the students and my colleagues. (School B, Teacher 2)

Persistency in use

Although some part of the program proved somewhat difficult to learn, the teachers persisted in its use, for example in the technique of staying neutral to students’ proposals for solutions. As part of the program training and in the use of the program, teachers are discouraged from judging the students’ solutions to problems, to allow the students themselves to judge whether a proposed solution is fair and reasonable for all parties. Several teachers felt that this part was somewhat difficult; nevertheless, they perceived it to be such an important part of the program that they made a significant effort to learn and apply this approach.

It was somewhat difficult to remain neutral towards the solutions presented by the students; often, they presented solutions that I would judge as inappropriate for solving the problem at hand … sometimes the other teachers and I took time to watch the video instruction of the program to see how we could act, and discussed how to accomplish this neutral behaviour. (School A, Teacher 1)

Teachers perceived effects of the program

Some respondents reported that they perceived their students to be calmer and their classes more harmonious when using the program. Although some respondents felt that there were some difficulties in learning the stepwise problem solving approach in the program at the start, they continued to use this method, because they felt that it was an effective tool for addressing and solving conflicts, both for themselves and for their students.

I always use the problem-solving method consistently. If there is a conflict, we solve it by using the steps: What is the problem; how can we solve it; what would be a good solution for you; is this a good solution? … This enables us to think through and respond more consciously, not merely apportioning guilt or jumping into a solution; the students have now become used to thinking and responding to conflicts in this way. (School D, Teacher 3)

Although I have used similar problem-solving methods, it was never as systematic and conscious … this method is more like a ‘recipe’, and I feel that the students, throughout our consistent use of it, have come to experience that we do not blame or find scapegoats, but rather aim to negotiate, by letting the students have their say and present their suggestions for solutions … .(School A, Teacher 5)

Collaboration with parents

Several teachers reported that using the program influenced the focus of their meetings with parents. For some teachers, this was restricted to demonstrating the program at those meetings. However, several of the teachers had made agreements with parents during the meetings on how parents could contribute to strengthening their children’s social skills. One teacher reported using the individual parent conferences to discuss the students’ social functioning more than focusing on reporting their progress in academic subjects. This teacher felt that this is more relevant for parents, because parents can determine from homework how their child is performing in those subjects, but not how their child is functioning socially.

I think parents with older children at this school can see that parent-teacher meetings have changed over the past five years. Previously, I would start by telling a parent that his or her child is a nice boy or girl, and then, for example that he or she is good at maths; but now I spend most of the time discussing social situations and how the student is functioning socially, and what I perceive to be the problem. Expressing this is more difficult, and here, Second Step has helped me to formulate the most appropriate explanations … The fact that the students are allowed to participate in these meetings, I perceive as contributing towards taking them more seriously. Sometimes, I also make agreements with the parents and the students with respect to what skills need to be worked on, and how. (School D, Teacher 1)

In summary, the data suggest that the program seems to have had a positive influence on various aspects of teachers’ practice, including conflict resolution, collaboration with parents, and their interaction with the pupils. In particular, the problem-solving activities in the program were highlighted as valuable, and the teachers seemed to put considerable effort into learning the approach and following the prescribed steps. The majority of our teachers expressed that they felt more socially skilled, democratic, and student-centred in their teaching. Several respondents also perceived that their counselling skills and their contribution to students’ learning had improved.

Discussion

The most important aspect of our findings is that the teachers reported that the Second Step program—especially the use of problem-resolution—had affected them and their teaching practice in several positive ways. The majority of our respondents reported that the program had contributed to changing their overall teaching techniques, including their relationship to students, parents, and colleagues, and with respect to their broader personal development. The findings suggest that using the program made the teachers more conscious and context-sensitive, socially skilled, and democratic in their teaching techniques. These findings were consistent across the four schools, which suggest that they may apply more generally in this respect. Such findings might parallel Zinz and colleagues' (2007) argument for teachers’ social emotional training to influence and be important also for the overall life of teachers.

In line with previous research (Klassen et al., 2011; Pajares, 2002; Tschannen-Moran et al., 1998) and Bandura (1986), the respondents’ positive mastery experiences with the program seem to have contributed to their entering a positive learning cycle, resulting in a continued use. Additionally, it seems likely that the teachers’ experience of the program as ‘effective’ and an influence on students’ behaviour, as they perceived students becoming calmer and more harmonious, could also have contributed to both the mastery experience and its continued use. Such findings parallel previous studies emphasizing that early feedback and progress towards the goals of the program are of major importance in strengthening their motivation for further use (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009) and their self-efficacy beliefs (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009; Klassen et al., 2011)

Further, it could be argued that using the problem-solving method encouraged teachers to become more aware of how they behaved and what they said, to read social situations in a more conscious way, and to take more seriously their role as being more of a counsellor and a guide in the children’s process of finding good solutions. Therefore, the positive mastery experience gained from applying such an approach to the students might have been a self-reinforcing factor, as respondents realized that the program was actually working, and thus may have contributed to them using the approach as an overall teaching technique. The results suggest that the teachers applied themselves to this transition in role performance and came to appreciate the benefits of the approach.

Respondents’ report of an increased orientation towards a counselling and guiding role appears to have influenced their behaviour more broadly. Most respondents reported that they were more humble and democratic when addressing the students and when communicating with others. This has been found to contribute positively to students’ development both socially and academically (Durlak et al., 2011), and parallel to Jennings and Greenberg (2009) and Rimm-Kaufmann and Chiu (2007), who emphasized the importance of teachers’ sharing their power, supporting their students’ autonomy, and inviting them to be participants and co-evaluators in their classroom.

The teachers’ use of the program was also found to have had a positive influence on their collaboration with parents, and was perceived to be an important tool for addressing and discussing students’ social behaviour with the parents. The use of the program equipped them with a vocabulary to describe and elaborate positive and negative aspects of students’ behaviour and social skills. Additionally, one teacher reported that the use of the program and especially the problem-solving method had made her more open-minded and flexible in her relationship with her colleagues, and had enhanced her attitude towards new methods and approaches.

Taken together, it could be argued that the findings in this study to some extent are comparable with Bandura’s (1986, 1993), Jennings and Greenberg (2009), and Kassel et al. (2011), among others which emphasize the power of mastery experiences to continuously influence the way individuals address new situations. The mechanisms seem to be that the perception of positive actions contributes to increased personal efficacy belief. If the experiences are perceived as positive, they will be more likely to lead to behavioural change. The results support the existence of this process, by showing that the respondents made considerable efforts to adopt and continue using the program, and that their positive experience in doing so changed their behaviour.

Although our purpose here is not to describe the effects of the program on students, because such measures have not been included in this study, the findings suggesting that teachers became more student-centred, warm, and caring are clearly of great value in the promotion of students’ personal development and their social and academic performance (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009); which are critical goals of school-based education worldwide (Elias et al., 2003; Zins, Weissberg, Wang, & Wallberg, 2004).

Limitations of the investigation

There were several limitations to the study. The first was that it used a sampling strategy that excluded teachers who felt negatively towards or had abandoned the program. Thus, we were unable to gather data about the negative experiences that may have resulted in the abandonment of the program. On the other hand, the qualitative nature of the study relied on focusing on information-rich cases (Kvale, 1996; Patton, 2003), and thus it was important to enrol participants who were willing to share their time and experience with us. The fact that one of the foci of the study related to how and why the program was used made it reasonable to address the teachers who did use it. Another limitation of the study was a lack of observational data to support the analyses and interpretations, and to substantiate the change of the reported practices. Such data would have enabled a more comprehensive interpretation of the actual use of the program through observing the teaching of the program in the classroom. Therefore, we recommend that future studies of this nature should use both interview and observational data to enhance their reliability and validity.

Implications for school psychologists

Teachers are key personnel in schools, having great influence on students’ feeling of relatedness to school. The mastery experience that teachers acquired appears to have increased their awareness of social situations and problems and their ability to address them, and to have contributed to a change in their practice and behaviour, strengthening their role as a model for the students; thus, this might have enabled them to be more supportive and to promote more effectively the students’ efforts. Findings here suggest that school psychologists’ and others aiming at promoting students’ personal development and their social and academic performance would benefit from facilitating and sustaining teachers’ use of programs like Second Step.

Cases	Implementation	Teaching (grade)	Formal education	Amount of training received	Used Second Step for (years)
School A	Mandatory and implemented as a whole school effort	3rd grade	Elementary teacher	1 day course	3 years
		5th grade	Elementary teacher	1 day course	5 years
		3rd grade	Elementary teacher	1 day course	3 years
		2nd grade	Preschool teacher	1 day course	5 years
		5th grade	Elementary teacher	1 day course	2 years
School B	Voluntary use and used only by single teachers	3rd grade	Elementary teacher	none	3 years
		3rd grade	Elementary teacher	1 day course	2 years
		1st grade	Elementary teacher	1 day course	2 years
		3rd grade	Preschool teacher	1 day course	3 years
School C	Mandatory and implemented as a whole school effort	2nd grade	Elementary teacher	1 day course (twice)	3 years
		1st grade	Preschool teacher	1 day course	5 years
		5th grade	Elementary teacher	1 day course	5 years
		4th grade	Elementary teacher	1 day course	3 years
School D	Voluntary use and used only by single teachers	3rd grade	Preschool teacher	1 day course	4 years
		2nd grade	Elementary teacher	1 day course	4 years
		7th grade	Elementary teacher	1 day course	4 years
		4th grade	Elementary teacher	1 day course	3 years

Footnotes

Torill Larsen is Associate Professor at the Institute for Health Promotion and Development at the University of Bergen. She is teaching at a bachelor program in health promotion. Primary research interests are children and adolescents’ development and health, implementation of health promotion efforts in schools, and evaluation research. Address: Research Centre of Health Promotion and Development, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Christiesgt. 13, Bergen 5015, Norway. Email: Torill.Larsen@psysp.uib.no

Oddrun Samdal is a Professor at the Institute for Health Promotion and Development at the University of Bergen. She is Head of a master program in health promotion. Primary research interests are children and adolescents’ development and health, implementation of health promotion efforts in schools, and evaluation research. Address: Research Centre of Health Promotion and Development, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Christiesgt. 13, Bergen 5015, Norway. Email: oddrun.samdal@iuh.uib.no

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