Boys warm to youngest teachers

ANDREW GORRIE/The Dominion Post

BABY POWER: Some of the parents and children who attended the Roots of Empathy baby celebration at Wellington Town Hall yesterday.

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Schoolboys have been going gaga over the unorthodox teachers of an "emotional literacy" trial, which supporters say is here to stay.

Under the Roots of Empathy programme, newborn babies – and their parents – take over the classroom once every three weeks, so pupils can watch their development.

The programme, which will run in some classrooms again next year, aims to teach pupils empathy, and to reduce aggression and bullying.

Volunteer mother Shevaugn Gallagher said it was not just pupils who were educated.

"The boys were most surprising. They were just really, really excited about it. Sometimes it was the boys who came up [to greet us] faster than the girls.

"It definitely opened [my] eyes."

All the pupils in the class, especially the boys, had wanted to hold her year-old son, Blake Kidd.

Ngati Toa Primary School pupil Myah Hohaia-Chapman, 11, said her class had fallen in love with Blake.

"It's kind of strange ... I've never really [seen] boys get excited about that."

She would miss Blake when she moved on to intermediate, she said.

"[Blake] has shown us all so much about [our] feelings and about how others may be feeling."

Roots of Empathy, which started in Auckland, has been running in Wellington for two years and Christchurch for one year.

The programme has been taught to year 5 pupils in 20 Wellington primary schools. Wellington Roots of Empathy liaison Andrea Jeffrey said it taught pupils how to be more empathetic and how to care for babies and each other.

Studies had shown the programme, which was developed in Canada and had been running since 1996, had a lasting impact.

"Years down the track, those qualities [learned through the programme] have sustained."

About 3000 children in 100 classrooms will have been through the programme by the year's end.

The programme is co-ordinated by the Peace Foundation and funded by the Education, Social Development, and Health ministries, Save the Children and ASB Bank Trust.

With the trial over, the Peace Foundation will seek further funding to run the programme next year. President Yvonne Duncan said it was likely the programme would continue in its present format, because she doubted the Government would increase funding next year.

"Money is obviously an issue with such programmes, so whether there's enough for an expansion, we'll just have to see."

The conclusion of the trial was marked by a ceremony at Wellington Town Hall yesterday, with more than 100 people in attendance.

- © Fairfax NZ News