Working Relationally in Educational Settings

There is growing recognition that positive relationships are central to children and young people’s (CYP) wellbeing, inclusion and engagement in school. However, despite the widespread use of the term relational approaches, there is often limited shared understanding of what working relationally actually looks like in everyday practice. This research sought to address that gap by exploring school staff perceptions of working relationally and how they believe CYP experience these approaches.

Drawing on the perspectives of staff from a range of roles and school contexts, the study identified four key characteristics of working relationally: compassion, authenticity, personalisation and engagement (CAPE). These characteristics closely align with existing relational frameworks, such as Hughes’ PACE model, but crucially extend this work by developing a relational framework that is explicitly grounded within educational settings and whole-setting systems.

Staff described working relationally not as a standalone intervention, but as something embedded across school culture, policies and everyday interactions. Relational approaches were enacted through both formal practices (such as emotion coaching, structured interventions and one-page profiles) and informal practices (including humour, play, everyday conversations and sharing interests). Staff also highlighted the importance of individual relational qualities, describing how staff establish and maintain positive relationships through being caring, honest, enthusiastic, encouraging and reliable (CHEER traits). These findings have clear implications for whole-setting approaches to wellbeing, including staff training that supports both relational practice and the development of CHEER traits.

Importantly, staff believed that CYP experience relational approaches as positive, accepting, validating and empowering, supporting emotional safety, belonging and engagement in learning. The study also highlights key enablers of relational practice, including supportive leadership, staff wellbeing and protected time for connection, alongside barriers such as workload pressures and staff turnover.

These findings strongly align with whole-setting approaches to mental health and wellbeing and sit at the heart of the Emotionally Friendly Settings (EFS) framework. By building on established relational models while centring the voices and experiences of school staff, this research offers a practitioner-informed, school-grounded framework to support reflection and the ongoing development of emotionally friendly practice.

We are keen to explore how these findings resonate with your setting. How are relational values reflected across your setting culture, systems and everyday practice? How might compassion, authenticity, personalisation and engagement be strengthened at a whole-setting level? These questions can be explored further through your EFS work and Educational Psychology Service support.

And remember… put on your relational CAPE and CHEER on the young people you work with.

 You can read the full research paper here: Full article: Working relationally in educational settings: exploring school staff perspectives on practice and their perceptions of children and young people’s experiences