Feasibility Study for ‘At-risk’ Young People

In addition to the research being carried out with teachers, in January 2020, a feasibility study was carried with secondary school students’ at risk of Fixed Period Exclusions (FPE).

In collaboration with Doncaster Research School, Doncaster Council and the RDaSH Grounded Research, the team were successful in a small grant bid to look at whether interventional sessions using The Chimp Model could have a potential role. The aim was to see if these sessions were acceptable to students, whether they were willing to engage and if it could aid in the management of anti-social behaviours.

What is an FPE? 

A FPE is a sanction that can be applied by a school to a pupil as a form of disciplinary action. The pupil is removed from the school for a defined period of time and returns to the school following the exclusion. They are associated with a number of poorer outcomes including poorer academic and occupational outcomes later in life and criminal activity.

The study:

Students at risk of FPE from years 7, 8 and 9 in four Doncaster schools took part in a series of 50-minute workshops delivered by Chimp Management mentor Kimberly Bakely. Both staff and pupils were required to complete questionnaires detailing their understanding and feelings before and after the intervention and pupils were interviewed a week post-intervention to assess their longer-term knowledge and understanding of the intervention.

The Intervention: tailored psychoeducational workshops

 The tailored workshops explained The Chimp Model in an age-appropriate manner. A supporting A3 size booklet was developed to accompany the workshop as part of the intervention; this allowed the workshop to be delivered agilely as access to presentation equipment was limited. 

Feedback from the Students

‘’No detentions this week’’

“You can’t control your chimp brain, but you can manage it. What you think is coming from your human brain could really be coming from the Chimp Brain”

“Whenever you get told off or something just like pause and just try and think about the chimp”

“That’s something that helped as well like the pausing bit cos sometimes I don’t pause I just react Like straight away just react”