Schools play an important role in promoting the social and emotional development and success of children.
Student resilience and success are essential for academic and social development and are optimized by safe, verified and respectful learning environments. Schools share this responsibility with the whole community.
Assured and resilient kids with a capability for emotional intelligence perform higher academically. These skills may also contribute to their ability to form sturdy social bonds and support communities to take care of healthy relationships and accountable lifestyles.
A number of things contribute to a poor psychological state in children. The overwhelming pressure and variety of exams will have a major result on students’ psychological state. Students are becoming increasingly stressed by the sheer amount of data they have to grasp and therefore the higher pressure to succeed. Most are fearful that a poor grade can ruin their future.
Young people currently are online far more often than outside. A game of soccer within the park is being replaced by online games. Moreover, children are at a variety of risks online, together with exposure to disconcerting content and cyberbullying, which can all have an effect on their psychological state.
Social media platforms are evolving and growing in quality daily. Sites like Instagram turn out feelings of inadequacy as teens compare themselves and their lives to those of their peers. Social media conjointly results in reduced communication skills and reduced human interaction with friends. This might cause feelings of loneliness, isolation, and worry as they struggle to stay faithful themselves.
As well because of the serious pressure of exams, students usually have additional responsibilities that contribute to a growing quantity of stress and worry. This normally results in exhaustion and puts these kids in danger of varied mental health issues.
Teachers and other school support staff have a responsibility to ensure an ideal psychological state in their students. Often, even tiny changes will go a long way in ensuring children’s success in school and later on in life. Some ways to do that are detailed below.
Encourage Social Time
Schedule in a half-hour or an hour weekly for students to be social and make sure it is separate from academic material in the syllabus.
Encourage them to talk with their peers and complete a task or challenge together.
Run Lunch Clubs
Give students the chance to take their minds off things at lunch by running mealtime clubs.
These clubs may be for any activity — arts and crafts, baking, drama clubs, book clubs, film clubs, etc.
The sense of community can facilitate in students a sense of closeness and can relieve the pressure of academic course load.
Maintaining an Open-door Policy
It’s essential that students apprehend they’ll return and confer with you concerning any problems or considerations they need.
Communicate this to your students so that they apprehend you’re invariably there to pay attention.
You’ll even appoint a delegated teacher for every year cluster UN agency will support any students troubled.
This person ought to ideally have coaching in psychological state and acumen to assist.
Spread Awareness of Mental Health
Sadly, mental health remains a touchy or taboo subject and one that sufferers feel embarrassed to speak about, feeling judged if they make a case for their issues.
As a result, mental health mindfulness must be built into school faculty.
Some examples include discussing it through lessons, addressing it in assemblies, and celebrating awareness days, like world mental health day, to let students know they’re not alone.
Organize a Welfare Week
To really place student success at the center of your faculty, prepare a welfare week in your school, benefitting both staff and students alike.
For your welfare week, you could:
- Encourage connections — get students to speak to and interact with individuals they wouldn’t normally confer with.
- Host a sport day — harness the endorphin-boosting powers of exercise! Ask students to set themselves small goals during these activities, which sets them up for a great self-esteem boost when they achieve these goals.
- Give to others — organize a school charity event and donate any funds raised to mental health charities. Keeping it creative and engaging for students will teach them that the simple act of giving can improve emotional wellbeing.
- Be mindful — bring in local experts in the field of mindfulness to host panels and interactive workshops with students and staff.
A Final Word on Mental Health at ISSP
ISSP – high quality international school Ho Chi Minh City does all of the above and more when it comes to the mental health of its students. We take their success in both school and life seriously and do all we can to ensure it. If you have any questions about how we do that, please contact our admissions team for further assistance.
