Esther Mertens

| 25 Study Protocol Background In the Netherlands, secondary education (starting at age 12) consists of three education tracks: Preparatory vocational education track, preparatory college track, and preparatory university track. These different education tracks are attended by respectively 43%, 28%, and 29% of the total student population of secondary education (Central Bureau for Statistics, 2017). Students following the preparatory vocational education track (prevocational students) show less autonomy, less academic performance, and less school motivation and commitment than students in the other two tracks (Kuyper, Keuning, & Zijsling, 2010). They have an increased risk for psychological problems, such as substance abuse and early sexual intercourse (Harakeh, De Looze, Schrijvers, Van Dorsselaer, & Vollebergh, 2012; Schrijvers & Schuit, 2010), compared to students following the other two tracks. For instance, of the prevocational students about 17% smokes, 48% binge-drinks, and 25% has sex under the age of 17, whereas of students following the preparatory college or university track respectively 5% and 2% smokes, 37% and 25% binge-drinks, and 12% and 6% has sex under the age of 17 (Schrijvers & Schuit, 2010). Due to the high level of problems prevocational students might encounter, it is important to positively stimulate their development. Nowadays schools often implement various programs to obtain such aims, especially since the government requires schools to execute a policy to improve students’ socio-emotional adjustment and social safety within the schools. Rock and Water (R&W; Ykema, 2002; 2014) is one of such programs. It is a universal school-based intervention that aims to improve students’ socio-emotional adjustment and social safety by increasing their self-control, self-reflection, self-esteem, emotion regulation and communication skills. R&W uses a psychophysical approach, that is play and exercises are used to increase the strength of youth, to teach them to make (physical) contact with others and to explore, respect and set own and other’s boundaries. The name of the intervention is based on the symbolic principles of ‘rock’ and ‘water’. Rock indicates a rigid and uncompromising attitude: Sticking to your own opinion and not bending for the opinion of others. Water on the other hand represents flexibility and cooperation: Being aware of one’s own opinion, thoughts and feelings and being open to those of others at the same time, willing to cooperate with them. R&W addresses multiple themes including relaxation, self-control, physical and verbal communication, body language, assertiveness, group pressure, sexuality, and sexual violence. Especially the psychophysical approach makes R&W eminently suitable for prevocational students. These students are less intrinsically motivated for school and (verbal) learning than students of other education tracks (Kuyper et al., 2010) and their cognitive abilities are, generally, lower (Ter Vrugte et al., 2015). Learning through play and exercise increases their motivation and is cognitively less demanding than a verbal cognitive approach. Hence, R&W fits in well with the learning style of prevocational students. 2