Introduction

The romanticised “man’s best friend” has seen the involvement of dogs supporting humans develop immensely over the last one hundred and fifty years.  From Sigmund Freud’s use of dogs in children’s therapy, to the growth in diabetic support animals to detect changes in sugar levels, we have embraced the skills and unconditional love these animals can provide. 

The latest rise of bringing dogs into schools has a growing research base that supports various school improvements from attendance to behaviour, and there are claims that dogs are making a difference in school settings internationally. 

My thesis aims to explore if there is a role for dogs in England’s alternative schools.  Alternative schools across England make up less than 1% of the educational system but work with the country’s most challenging and vulnerable young people who for whatever reason, mainstream school is not appropriate.  From additional educational needs to behaviour challenges, or medical reasons, these students are not able to access mainstream school.  My work sets out to gather the national picture on the involvement of dogs in alternative schools across England and find out if this is just a passing fad with animal enthusiastic headteachers, or if there is a beneficial role for animal-assisted approaches in these provisions.   

The National Survey

A national survey was carried out in May 2022, which was sent to all 338 registered alternative schools across England for their input into the interventions they supported in school and the perceived most impactful. 

Overall, the results revealed that headteachers perceived one-to-one reading interventions as the most impactful support to be offered to young people.  This was followed by therapeutic interventions, group social sessions, and in-class support for students.  Animal-assisted approaches were not in the top five interventions that headteachers found to make the most impact. This is not surprising given that animal assisted approaches were reportedly being undertaken in just under half of schools that participated in the survey. 

Many settings without animals cited the cost to the school, risk assessments, and care of the animal in the holidays as reasons for not exploring this, all of which are valid reasons, and need careful consideration for schools contemplating this type of support. 

However, there were schools with sustained animal-assisted approaches in place, and these schools then made up my collective case study, to explore the role of the dog further and what was driving this as sustained practice.

The Case Study Findings

My thesis explored four different alternative settings across England, with varying specialisms and varying student population, all with over three years of sustained animal-assisted approaches in place. 

I wanted to delve beyond the novelty effect and really explore why these schools had continued with interventions involving dogs when nationally there were other interventions having greater perceived impact on student attainment. 

What I discovered was unexpected, and yet a powerful foundation for further research.  The most common theme from the case studies was the positive experience having a dog in school provided for young people.  Secondly, it was a boost to staff wellbeing and thirdly it allowed children to have a positive attachment in school. 

In addition to these themes which were identified from interviews with staff and headteachers from each school, there were also similar best practice elements discovered in making animal-assisted approaches sustainable for the school. 

In each case study the headteachers of these schools were invested in the approach. The dog was not in school every day, it ranged from one day a week to several but not all five days.  The dogs were all small to medium breeds and over two years old with mild temperaments.  And finally, they had dedicated handlers for the dogs to ensure their welfare in school. 

In further exploring the themes that emerged, I examined the concept that providing young people with positive childhood experiences may be able to counterbalance adverse childhood experiences to give vulnerable young people better life chances as they become adults.  Adverse childhood experiences can have life limiting effects into adulthood, and this idea additionally links to a re-framed concept of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs proposed by Kaufman.  His model explores safety and connection as a foundation for learning and purpose to be understood in oneself (Figure 1). 

Figure 1: Kaufman’s sailboat model (2021) to explain need

His work alongside that of Carter on the trauma responsive classroom both identify how important co-attunement is in providing young people with a foundation to enable learning. This refers to a shared emotional resonance and connection between two individuals, where each is attuned to and responds to the other’s emotional needs and states. It’s about creating a harmonious and empathic interaction, where both individuals feel seen, understood, and validated.  My research highlights the unique role dogs may have in forming attachments in alternative settings through their connections to young people. 

Contributions to the field

Although this work has not added confirmation to dogs in schools raising attendance, or improving behaviour from previously published work it has identified the role they play in alternative schools.  Not superior as an intervention to traditional one-to-one support, animal-assisted approaches have a place in schools that are already offering targeted support for students, by offering nurture. 

The positive experience and attachment that a dog can provide for a child, could help them to be able to then be able to access education in a more meaningful way.  England’s alternative schools have a higher proportion of vulnerable young people that attend them, and an increased number of these from disadvantaged backgrounds, where the number of adverse childhood experiences are higher than their peers.  Preventing the life limiting effects of adverse childhood experiences through positive ones could improve adult outcomes for the most vulnerable young people which identifies why some schools remain committed to this intervention.

This research additionally highlights the positive impact on staff wellbeing that having animal-assisted approaches have on the school team; and with teacher retention in education a growing concern this benefit is not one to be overlooked.  There is a growing movement across England to support the mental health of both staff and students, and further work to explore retention at schools with animal-assisted approaches could provide insight into this.          

Reflections & Limitations: What next?

My thesis adds new knowledge to a growing field, contributing to understanding the role of dogs in England’s alternative schools.  It highlights reasons why some schools have not invested in this and identifies the most impactful interventions in alternative schools as perceived by headteachers. 

It is not a platform to encourage more dogs in schools but with a solid foundation of key interventions in place it identifies how such approaches are making a difference in alternative provisions in non-academic ways. 

The biggest limitation of my research was the low response rate from the national survey, with only nine percent of alternative provisions engaging in its completion and from those that completed the survey, only half of those were then willing to be contacted further for a short interview.  In progressing this work further, I’d like to further explore obtaining an accurate measure of schools using animals in their centres or see this information be collected in the national census.  I’d also like to explore a comparison on advice for setting up animal-assisted programmes s, as there is a growing body of information for how to implement this, but currently it is largely from organisations that have their own agenda to support.  This is where the NSDA has a key role to play.

My work indicates that there is a role for dogs in alternative schools to support young people with positive experiences and increasing their sense of belonging in order to help them access education.  The positive connections and experiences of having a dog in school, identifies its role in education settings, and just goes to show that headteachers aren’t barking up the wrong tree at all, but may be onto a unique way to re-engage England’s most challenging young people.