Roots of Empathy Programme

Roots of Empathy is a school based social and emotional competence promotion programme for primary school children which provides an effective approach to increasing pro social behaviour and reducing difficult behaviour.

The programme comprises 9 themes and 27 lessons, based around a monthly classroom visit by an infant and parent, who are typically recruited from the local community and are ‘adopted’ by the class at the start of the school year.

The specialised curriculum supports children as they learn to understand the baby’s perspective, label the babies feelings and extend that learning to reflect on their own feelings and those of others.

In 2017/18

• 122 Roots of Empathy Programmes (ROE) were delivered in 115 primary schools across NI.
• 3050 children, representing 1 in 7 primary school children in NI, undertook the ROE programme within 2017/18.
• 99.3% of ROE programmes were fully completed.
• Training, Mentoring and Classroom Visits were provided for all 24 new school facilitators undertaking the ROE programme.

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