Social-Based Learning and Leadership (SBL): Theory Development and a Qualitative Case Study
Abstract
Social-based learning and leadership (SBL) is an innovative pedagogical approach that
centers on enhancing relationships within the educational system to address 21st-century challenges.
At its core, SBL aims to help teachers transform into social architects who nurture positive social
processes among pupils. Emphasizing prosocial education, SBL lays the foundation for cultivating
pro-environmentalism and sustainable behavior by fostering a sense of care and responsibility toward
others. SBL’s prosocial education program encompasses social and emotional skills, knowledge,
and dispositions to empower pupils to actively engage in and contribute to a more democratic,
reciprocal, just, and sustainable society. This approach underscores the importance of education
in shaping students’ mindsets and life orientations. By nurturing a sense of interconnectedness
and responsibility for the well-being of others, SBL provides a promising avenue to transform
education by building more sustainable educational systems, thus contributing to creating a more
sustainable future. A qualitative case study, which consisted of 18 in-depth interviews and nine
observations, examined the impact of an SBL-based teacher training program at an elementary
school from 2020 to 2023. The results point to changes in teachers’ perceptions of their roles as social
architects and, more specifically, as facilitators of social, emotional, and cognitive processes. The
teachers gained recognition as meaningful adults from their students and transitioned to hold integral
positions as part of a supportive and connected school community, associating with colleagues
and parents. This study thus showcases patterns of socio-organizational communication that can
unfold in a school influenced by the SBL approach. SBL’s emphasis on positive social relationships
and empowering teachers as facilitators of holistic student development thus further reinforces its
potential to transform education for a sustainable and thriving future.
Can high quality listening predict lower speakers' prejudiced attitudes?
Guy Itzchakov, Netta Weinstein, Nicole Legate, Moty Amar
Listening
Theorizing from humanistic and motivational literature suggests attitude change may occur because high-quality listening facilitates the insight needed to explore and integrate potentially threatening information relevant to the self. By extension, self-insight may enable attitude change as a result of conversations about prejudice. We tested whether high-quality listening would predict attitudes related to speakers' prejudices and whether self-insight would mediate this effect. Study 1 (preregistered) examined scripted conversations characterized by high, regular, and poor listening quality. In Study 2, we manipulated high versus regular listening quality in the laboratory as speakers talked about their prejudiced attitudes. Finally, Study 3 (preregistered) used a more robust measure of prejudiced attitudes to testing whether perceived social acceptance could be an alternative explanation to Study 2 findings. Across these studies, the exploratory (pilot study and Study 2) and confirmatory (Studies 1 & 3) findings were in line with expectations that high, versus regular and poor, quality listening facilitated lower prejudiced attitudes because it increased self-insight. A meta-analysis of the studies (N = 952) showed that the average effect sizes for high-quality listening (vs. comparison conditions) on self-insight, openness to change and prejudiced attitudes were, ds = 1.19, 0.46, 0.32 95%CIs [0.73, 1.51], [0.29, 0.63] [0.12, 0.53], respectively. These results suggest that when having conversations about prejudice, high-quality listening modestly shapes prejudice following conversations about it, and underscores the importance of self-insight and openness to change in this process.
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Can holding a stick improve listening at work? The effect of Listening Circles on employees’ emotions and cognitions
Guy Itzchakov, Avraham N. Kluger
Listening
The Listening Circle is a method for improving listening in organizations. It involves people sitting in a circle where only one talks at a time. Talking turns are signaled by a talking object. Although there are several reports regarding the effectiveness of the Listening Circle, most are based on case studies, or confounded with another intervention, and do not use theory to predict the listening-induced outcomes. We predicted that perceiving good listening decreases employees’ social anxiety, which allows them to engage in deeper introspection, as reflected by increased self-awareness. This increased self-awareness enables an acknowledgment of the pros and cons of various work-related attitudes and can lead to attitudes that are objectively more ambivalent and less extreme. Further, we hypothesized that experiencing good listening will enable speakers to accept their contradictions without the evaluative conflict usually associated with it (subjective-attitude ambivalence). In three quasi-experiments (Ns = 31, 66 and 83), we compared the effects of a Listening Circle workshop to a self-enhancement workshop (Studies 1 and 2), to a conflict management workshop (Study 2) and to employees who did not receive any training (Study 3), and found consistent support for the hypotheses. Our results suggest that the Listening Circle is an effective intervention that can benefit organizations.
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