Solution Focused Practice in Schools

Yasmin Ajmal is a former primary teacher and educational psychologist. She is now self-employed as a Solution Focused coach, trainer and educational consultant. Harvey Ratner is a founder member of BRIEF, established in 1989 to deliver therapy, coaching and training in the Solution Focused approach. He works as a therapist and coach at BRIEF and in schools.

Foreword; About the Authors; Preface; Acknowledgments; Part 1: Introduction to Solution Focused Practice; 1. What is Solution Focused Practice (SFP)?; 2. A brief background; 3. Summary of practice; 4. Fundamental SF skills; 5. Solution building is not the same as problem solving; 6. Key SF questions; 7. Scales: denoting the progress already made; 8. Dealing with ‘don’t know’; 9. Adapting SFP to work in schools; 10. Summary of SFP in schools; 11. Research and literature on SFP; 12. How to get going … and how to keep going; Part 2: How will we know we are at our best? Conversations with whole classes; 13. Introduction: involving students; 14. Inviting students to step into their ‘best version’; 15. Being specific makes actions more accessible and possible; 16. The perspectives of others; 17. How do you keep students thinking and looking?; 18. Using scales; 19. How do we record these discussions?; 20. Five minute versions; 21. Talking with a whole class when there has been a difficulty; 22. Variations of scales in the classroom; 23. Creating opportunities for appreciation in the classroom; Part 3: Individual work; 24. Introduction: principles; 25. Getting started: building a common direction; 26. Building virtual pathways to success; 27. Resource-based discussions; 28. Using scales; 29. Creative scales; 30. Other ways of moving a conversation in a constructive direction; 31. When there has been a set-back; 32. Confidence; 33. Motivation; 34. Anxiety; 35. Giving advice; 36. The enquiring mind: facilitating peer conversations; 37. Differing 5 minute conversation frameworks around a specific issue; Part 4: Coaching, consultations and meetings; Coaching conversations with staff; 38. Key considerations; 39. Focusing on what is wanted; 40. Amplifying current successes and future opportunities; 41. A 5 minute coaching conversation; 42. How do coaches get better at coaching?; Consultations with groups of staff; 43. Using scales to support consultations over time; 44. Locating what is working and making it stronger; Meetings with parents and other professionals; 45. Basic meeting structure; 46. Establishing the Best Hopes from the meeting; 47. Finding a starting point through parental aspirations; 48. What if the student is not at the meeting?; 49. Clarifying priorities: multiple scaling; 50. When things are tough; 51. Pupil progress meetings and beyond; Meetings around organisational development; 52. Linking visions, policies and practice; 53. Locating and building on strengths; Part 5: Working with groups around specific issues; 54. Introduction: structure of sessions; Group work with students; 55. Mobilising resources and useful qualities; 56. Establishing ‘ground rules’ for the group; 57. Supporting forward-looking conversations; 58. Using a scale; 59. Questions are the best form of advice; 60. Follow up sessions; 61. Points of practice to bear in mind; 62. Group mediation; Parent groups; 63. Starting and finishing from a position of strength; 64. Exploring what parents want; 65. Being at our best; 66. Advice giving; Part 6: The lower primary age; 67. Noticing and naming; 68. Keeping good things going; 69. Co-creating pictures of success: children as experts; 70. Other ideas to help scaffold ‘noticing’ and ‘doing’; 71. Stepping into the world of imagination; 72. One-to-one conversations; Part 7: Case example of individual work: Christiana; 73. Transcript; 74. How are reputations formed, maintained and changed?; Part 8: Solution Focus in Zanzibar: a case study; 75. Stay open to differences!; 76. Where do you position yourself and how do you get started?; 77. Data gathering phase; 78. Final meeting and report; 79. What happened next?; 80. What did we learn?; Index