User:Bergincac/sandbox

Definition
Prosocial education is the process of intentionally helping students become more prosocial. Prosocial behavior is any behavior that benefits others or promotes harmonious relationship (Hay, 1994; Radke-Yarrow, Zahn-Waxler, & Chapman, 1983). Some kinds of prosocial behavior that students engage in at school are standing up for others and confronting wrong doers or bullies, providing emotional support to others, helping others develop skills, complimenting and encouraging others, including others who are left out, being a peacemaker, making others smile, sharing, keeping confidences, being honest, and apologizing (Bergin, 2014).

Prosocial education is related to other movements in education that address social skills. It is a subset of social-emotional learning and a subset of Character Education (Brown, Corrigan, & Higgins-D'Alessandro, 2012). Schools are increasingly emphasizing prosocial education because students learn more when they are prosocial or they have classmates who are prosocial. Prosocial students also collaborate more effectively on learning activities that require teamwork. Beyond the classroom, prosocial behavior is an important skill for students as they enter the new global workforce where employees are expected to get along well with others (Savitz-Romer, Rowan-Kenyon, & Fancsali, 2015).

Approaches
Teachers can make a difference in students’ prosocial behavior in their classroom. Students who are not as prosocial in one classroom may be more prosocial in another classroom because of the teacher’s behavior (Gregory & Ripski, 2008). There are three general approaches to prosocial education. (1) First is a curriculum add-on approach. In this approach didactic lessons are given to students, often in the form of stories and role playing, to encourage them to behave more prosocially. This approach tends to have no to small effect (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011; Social and Character Development Research Consortium, 2010; Vincent & Grove, 2012). (2) Second is a whole school reform. Two examples that are effective are “The Leader in Me” or the “Caring School Community” (Covey, Covey, Summers, & Hatch, 2014; Solomon, Battistich, Watson, Schaps, & Lewis, 2000). In this approach, the social and emotional climate of the whole school is altered. (3) Third, is a simple daily interaction approach. That is, teaching prosocial behavior during teacher-student interactions that occur as part of the regular school day with no change to the curriculum or structure of the school day. Specific strategies that teachers can use during simple daily interactions that have been identified by research as effective are: (1) use of inductive discipline, (2) modeling and providing students with opportunity to practice prosocial behavior, both during daily classroom activities (e.g., helping another student pick up spilled papers) and during service learning (e.g., volunteering in the community), (3) developing positive teacher-student relationships, and (4) creating a positive emotional climate in the classroom (Bergin, 2018).