The PATHS® Programme at Castleroe Primary School
The PATHS® Programme for Schools (UK Version) is a programme designed to facilitate the development of self-control, emotional awareness and interpersonal problem-solving skills.
The PATHS® programme is designed for use with primary school children, and we are proud to be a PATHS® at Castleroe PS.
The purposes of the PATHS® programme are to enhance the social competence and social understanding of children, as well as to facilitate educational processes in the classroom.
It addresses the following goals:
- Increased self-control - the ability to stop and think before acting when upset or confronted with a conflict situation. Lessons in this area also teach identification of problem situations through recognition of “upset” feelings.
- Attributional processes that lead to an appropriate sense of self-responsibility.
- Increased understanding and use of the vocabulary of logical reasoning and problem-solving, e.g., “if…then” and “why…because.”
- Increased understanding and use of the vocabulary of emotions and emotional states; e.g., excited, disappointed, confused, guilty, etc. Increased use of verbal mediation.
- Increased ability to recognise and interpret similarities and differences in the feelings, reactions and points of view of self and others.
- Increased understanding of how one’s behaviour affects others.
- Increased knowledge of, and skill in, the steps of social problem-solving: stopping and thinking; identifying problems and feelings; setting goals; generating alternative solutions; anticipating and evaluating consequences; planning, executing and evaluating a course of action; trying again if the first solution fails.
- Increased ability to apply social problem-solving skills to prevent and/or resolve problems and conflicts in social interactions.
