Mental health

-Automatic translation

Zippy's Friends

Zippy's Friends is a social and emotional skills programme for young children in primary school, but many preschools have also used the material with their oldest children. The British organisation Partnership for Children manages the programme globally and teaches it in over 30 countries, including Iceland.

Zippy's Friends has been implemented in Icelandic schools since 2007. The programme is highly popular and ranks among the most widely used materials for teaching life skills and fostering social and emotional development in young children in primary schools.

The curriculum features six modules, each with four lessons. Overall, it is designed for 24 lessons, and teachers receive detailed instructions, ready-made homework, and a variety of supplementary materials to support their teaching. To obtain permission to use the curriculum, you must attend a course organised by the Directorate of Health.

The curriculum involves parental participation through homework assignments at the end of each module or after every fourth lesson. Parents also receive introductory material about the curriculum, and teachers are encouraged to present its topics to them.

Read more about Zippy's Friends in the Directorate of Health report on educational materials and a whole-school approach to strengthening children's social and emotional skills in school activities (Icelandic). Research indicates that Zippy's Friends is among the best-supported educational materials, compared with all social and emotional skills programmes available to schools in Iceland. Additionally, there is a short article about the interest in and use of Zippy's Friends in Icelandic schools (Icelandic), published in Netla – an online journal on pedagogy and education.

More information

• The story behind the project Zippy's Friends (Icelandic)

• Presentation of the subject Zippy's Friends (Icelandic)

• The philosophy behind the educational material Zippy's Friends (Icelandic)

• To be able to save yourself (Icelandic)