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From improved self-esteem to reduced behavioural incidents and improved attendance, a body of evidence points towards ELSAs (Emotional Literacy Support Assistants) being a valuable resource for pupils in UK schools. It’s testament to the programme’s popularity that the number of Local Authorities adopting ELSA has more than doubled in a decade, now standing at over 170.
In this article we take a look at some of the key ways ELSAs can support children’s mental health and what research studies and feedback from schools can tell us about the programme’s success.
Specifically trained to support emotional literacy or build emotional literacy skills, ELSAs learn to adapt a range of techniques and hands-on activities to help children recognise, understand and manage their emotions to meet jointly agreed, often very specific goals.
Practitioners receive training from educational psychologists in a wide range of skills including, active listening, emotional regulation techniques based on cognitive behavioural therapy, grief support, anger management and positive psychology.
Through shared engaging activities, relationship building, stories and discussions, ELSAs help children build a vocabulary for their emotions, enabling them to communicate their needs more clearly and understand the feelings of others.
Working collaboratively with a pupil, ELSAs create SMART goals to help develop emotional literacy in a particular area. For example, being able to ask for help when there is conflict in the playground, being able to recognise when other people are feeling sad, or demonstrating understanding that other people might show their feelings in different ways.
Example activities/approaches: Puppets, social stories, emotion stones, mirror games, feeling cards, activities that require you to match bodily sensations to emotions etc.
Bereavement, such as the loss of a grandparent, is a normal part of childhood. Not all loss needs individualised support at school. Rather, children are referred to ELSA when they are unable to move on from a bereavement, the loss is particularly traumatic or when there is a difficult family break up.
In these circumstances, ELSAs help young people understand the specific challenges they are facing due to their grief. Instead of giving direct advice, they guide individuals to reflect on their concerns and explore coping strategies and solutions together.
Example activities/approaches: Creating memory boxes, journals, or drawing pictures to help children remember and connect with the person they have lost. Using models to discuss the positives of mum’s house and dad’s house, suggesting relaxation techniques or encouraging physical activity, and also using therapeutic stories.
Typically ELSAs start by breaking down big targets around managing emotions into smaller steps. For example, a pupil may first need to learn how to identify angry facial expressions in others, before they recognise their own bodily symptoms and are able to name three things that trigger their anger. Only then will the ELSA start teaching and setting targets around the use of coping strategies.
Breaking things down step-by-step like this and making the links between bodily sensations and emotions is often particularly helpful for children with autism.
Example activities/approaches: Considering other emotions that underlie anger; sadness/fear etc. and teaching ways to recognise and identify anger. To support this, ELSAs may use puppets and games to explore self-expression. ELSAs may also work with tools such as the Incredible 5 Point Scale, as well as teaching basic CBT techniques, such as challenging negative thoughts, recognising bodily feelings and progressive relaxation.
A lot of ELSA work is based on Borba’s five building blocks of self-esteem; security, selfhood, affiliation (a sense or belonging or relatedness), mission (sense of purpose) and competence, (in terms of developing awareness of personal strengths and how to build on them).
By guiding children through exercises linked to the above, ELSAs promote positive self-talk, help children set aspirational goals and develop a positive self-image. They are also trained to help promote a growth mindset, drawing on the work of Carol Dwek.
Example activities/approaches: Using Strengths Cards to encourage pupils to self-select their positive attributes as well as online tools to help them build personal profiles, and teaching students how to set effective goals. The ELSA may draw on positive psychology techniques as well as motivational interviewing and models of change. They may encourage pupils to use self-esteem diaries, vision boards, and/or gratitude diaries.
ELSAs often work with individuals and small groups to develop essential social skills such as communication, empathy, and conflict resolution. This could include conflict with peers or teachers. They may develop pupils’ active listening skills, or work on specific goals such as building awareness of how tone of voice can convey meaning. They may also teach conflict reduction techniques, such as keeping calm and engineering ‘win-win’ situations where both parties can benefit.
Example activities/approaches: Role playing with the ELSA or another friendly, socially confident pupil, working through friendship scenarios, using empathy games or cards. Videos and photos of social situations (especially ambiguous ones) can be helpful, as can comic strip conversations and problem solving by matching scenarios with sticky notes for feelings, actions or thoughts.
When used appropriately, ELSAs can act as a bridge between the pupil, parents, and teachers (both current and future). With appropriate consent, they can share insights about the child’s needs, ensure their voice is captured and advocate for consistent strategies.
ELSAs can help children name feelings around key transitions, manage their expectations and break down changes into smaller steps to help them seem more manageable.
Example activities/approaches: Size of the problem, using positive psychology to help reframe transitioning to new situations, creating transition memory boxes or craft work, helping pupils visualise their new environment through maps, drawings and encouraging problem-solving skills. A key activity is often working with the child to make a booklet /PowerPoint / video about themself to be used by the new school.
ELSAs draw on cognitive behavioural techniques to help pupils to challenge negative thoughts, recognise bodily symptoms of anxiety and become aware of thought spirals. They develop personalised coping strategies for students and work on problem solving skills.
Example activities/approaches: Three houses (worry house, dream house, happy house) therapeutic storytelling, breathing techniques, size of the problem exercises. ELSAs may also encourage mindfulness exercises, devoting scheduled “worry time”, or using tools such as an anxiety scale to identify and manage problems.
[Some example ELSA resources – many more can be found on the excellent ELSA support website.]
There is a clear link between emotional regulation and children’s ability to learn. A meta-analysis of over 213 school based studies has shown that students participating in social and emotional literacy programmes achieved an 11-percentile-point gain in academic achievement on average, compared to their peers.
Given that ELSA is just one means by which to model social and emotional literacy, however, what evidence do we have to indicate it is the best approach?
Measuring impact in an empirical way is challenging. Firstly, it’s a big ask to implement this type of academic research (including control groups) within school environments. Secondly, the way in which the ELSA programme is delivered varies considerably from school to school (indeed one of its strengths is its adaptability). All of this is confounded by lack of consensus on how to best measure gains in emotional literacy.
This being said, there are qualitative and quantitative studies that build a picture of success. A recent 2024 study, for example, conducted across 18 schools showed that ELSA had a significant positive impact on children’s emotional literacy scores, when analysing results from a social and emotional support assessment (SESA) questionnaire. A control group was used which showed no progress.
A much larger landmark study led by Sheila Burton, (who trained the very first ELSAs and developed the ELSA project), has also demonstrated improved scores on a teacher rated Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) administered pre and post-intervention. In addition, the primary and secondary pupils involved in the study showed improved scores on teacher-rated measures of emotional literacy. It’s worth noting, however, that improvements were also seen in the control group, albeit to a much lesser extent.
More specifically connected with individual SMART targets, a very small study conducted by a team at the University of Southampton showed measurable improvement in the behaviour of three children, prior to and after an ELSA intervention.
Teacher and TA observations showed;
There are many more studies (some ongoing) and evaluation reports from Local Authorities available on the ELSA Network, as well as a considerable analysis of qualitative feedback – some of which we’ll come onto next.
A recent 2024 survey conducted by the County Psychological Service and Cumberland Council showed that headteachers had overwhelmingly positive things to say about the ELSA programme. Some of the comments are replicated below;
“The children supported appear to be better engaged in lessons and back on track academically (one child is now exceeding their academic targets). Attendance and punctuality has increased, where this has been identified as a concern. In one case, a child decreased their minutes late by 1346 over a term.”
“Reduced number of seclusions, suspensions and exclusions.”
“Our ELSA has made a big difference to the lives of the children she works with.”
“Our long-term cases show huge transformation in our older children and we have a large current caseload of children who struggled on their first term in Yr3 but are already making positive steps both inside the classroom and on the playground. The support of ELSAs in this is invaluable.”
“In the case of bereavement, the parent praised the school for the quick and timely intervention of support, which “made a significant, positive difference.”
Research from Cardiff University using semi-structured interviews also found that the majority of parents rated ELSA to have positively impacted on SEMH, commenting that skills learned within the ELSA sessions transferred to the home context.
There is also evidence to suggest pupils themselves rate the intervention highly; all participants in a study of 53 primary school pupils reported the ELSA programme to be effective, with analysis of structured interviews highlighting common themes around the importance of the relationship they could build with their ELSA and how they felt it helped them build resilience. Other studies capturing student voice show similar positive results (Purcell, Kelly & Woods, 2023), (Purcell, 2023).
ELSAs often comment on their increased confidence supporting emotional literacy and the transformational impact of the unique ELSA-child relationship dynamic on children’s wellbeing. They also value educational psychologist supervision.
Some comments from different studies are replicated below.
“I have increased knowledge of emotional literacy in myself and others which has helped to increase my confidence personally and as a teaching assistant. I feel that I have the resources to help me improve my effectiveness to deal with difficulties due to emotional problems.” (ELSA quoted in Dodds & Blake, 2015)
“I think we get to see the bigger picture as well, teachers just see this disruptive child who’s, you know, causing problems in the class, whereas we see that there are wider issues. There’s a reason why they are behaving in that way.” (ELSA quoted in Mann, 2014)
“ELSA has made a huge difference, I think for some of these children because they’ve missed so much with Covid… social skills, friendships, not just academic. It’s been an emotional, holistic loss.” (ELSA quoted in report published by Staffordshire EP Service)
ELSAs taking part in the WELL project, run by CPS Cumberland also gave the following feedback.
“I have had one child who had no confidence and after working through our session was able to get up on stage and perform in a dance in front of thousands of people.”
“The skills I learnt doing my ELSA training underpin every other intervention I run.”
“Significant improvements in attendance of one student 44%-86% when self esteem was primary factor in low attendance, following 10 weeks of ELSA intervention.”
The presence of a skilled ELSA in a school can have a profound and lasting impact on the mental health and overall wellbeing of all children, including those with special educational needs.
By providing targeted support, fostering emotional literacy, and building resilience, ELSAs are not just addressing immediate needs, but equipping children with essential skills to navigate their emotional landscape successfully throughout the rest of their lives.
If you train to become an ELSA you will be welcomed into an inspirational network of thousands of professionals, joining a supportive community of TAs and educational psychologists committed to sharing ideas and improving the mental health of young people.
Find out more about training to become an ELSA as part of the Level 5 Specialist Teaching Assistant Apprenticeship
Already implementing ELSA or thinking about starting an ELSA programme? Read our guide to maximising their effectiveness.
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This week, Manor Fields Primary School in Bishop’s Stortford welcomed a special guest; the Minister for School Standards in the Department for Education, Catherine McKinnell MP. The visit showcased the positive impact of the Level 5 Specialist Teaching Assistant Apprenticeship, delivered by Educational and Sporting Futures (ESF), on school staff and pupils.
Teaching assistants have the opportunity to build close bonds with the pupils they support and play a highly significant role in shaping their experience of learning. In this article, we take a look at how TAs can provide the best support to dyslexic pupils, not only in terms of developing reading and writing skills, but also helping to build self-confident, independent learners.
The conference offers the opportunity a to hear expert views and examine current topical issues relating to dyslexia and other SpLDs. You’ll have the chance to listen to our four keynote speakers, who will be providing presentations about morphology, understanding and supporting dyslexia and ADHD, assessing language in adults, and guidance about gathering and interpreting qualitative data during assessments!
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