Corona in education: out of sight but not out of mind

The 2021 Corona Health Monitor for Young People shows that secondary school students felt less happy in 2021 than before the coronavirus period. And at our helpdesk, we heard more stories than before during the past school year about unrest in the classroom.

The consequences of coronavirus are still noticeable in the classroom

There are concerns about the well-being of both students and vocational students (PDF). They become overstimulated more quickly, their perseverance seems lower, and they are more accustomed to distractions. Students now seek out those distractions in the classroom as well. Some students show a lack of interest in education, while others experience increased performance pressure. This has various causes, including:

• Gaps have emerged in the socialisation process, which for a long time took place exclusively online.
• Students have experienced periods of social isolation.
• Many students were absent and classes were incomplete. This caused an unstable progression through the phases of group formation.

Give students clarity

Ensuring a routine provides clarity and predictability. This contributes to how students experience their sense of safety. A storming phase normally lasts only a few weeks. Many schools are now finding that classes remain stuck in the storming phase. This creates a great deal of unrest in the classroom.

During turbulent periods, students benefit from clarity. This is primarily about the question: How do we interact with one another in this class? Address students about the social conventions they have agreed on as a class. Pay specific attention to the following question: How do we take one another into account when we experience differences?

Tips

• A clear structure for the day can help restore the routine. For example, a fixed recurring element in the morning and afternoon.
• Consider starting the day together, with attention to well-being. A so-called check-in, in which you ask how everyone is doing. This allows you to keep your finger on the pulse.
• Continue to remind students of their shared responsibility: we are a group, we help one another, we look after one another. Also consider activities that strengthen this sense of togetherness.
• The first weeks of the school year – the Golden Weeks – are decisive for creating a pleasant atmosphere in the group. Students get to know one another, the teacher and the rules. During this period, a group’s norms and values are established. Make use of this opportunity by setting a positive standard, focusing on the desired social conventions. Would you like to know more? Visit the website of our annual Week Against Bullying campaign.

Pay attention to group formation and dynamics

We are familiar with scenario planning from crisis management. This involves mapping out various possible situations and what they mean for school practice. This can help us by enabling us to make plans for a possible new wave of coronavirus infections. How do we maintain control over social development and positive group dynamics? Even without a possible school closure, unrest can arise during group formation. For example, if classes are incomplete because of illness or quarantine.

Students’ behaviour is driven by needs that you, as an education professional, can address in various ways. During School & Safety’s annual education conference ‘With All Due Respect!’, Iliass El Hadioui gave an engaging keynote in March 2022 on how to positively create space for the need for social contact:

The pedagogical relationship between student and teacher is important

It is not only the contact between students that matters. The pedagogical relationship between student and teacher is also an important point of attention. Restoring and strengthening this relationship is necessary to promote students’ learning motivation and well-being. The Platform for Youth Perspectives (PPJ) writes this in its second advisory letter on the implementation and effects of the National Education Programme (NPO):
“The PPJ considers restoring the pedagogical relationship – in which seeing one another, time, attention, discussion and trust must be central – necessary to promote both young people’s learning motivation and their social-emotional development.”

School & Safety endorses this importance and supports education professionals in their pedagogical professionalism.

Tailored solutions developed together with young people

A great deal of research has already been conducted into the consequences of coronavirus, including its effects on young people’s mental health. The most important conclusions so far include that mental health should be given equal weight to physical health. And if coronavirus measures are needed again, we should above all opt for a tailored approach developed in consultation with children and young people.

Curious about what young people themselves have come up with? At the initiative of the cooperating health funds, young people discussed this during several sessions. In response to the question ‘What needs to happen to create a mentally healthy learning environment and reduce stress and performance pressure in education?’, they arrived at these five main recommendations:

• Focus on the student as a person, not on their grades and performance
• Make a structural commitment to mental well-being within every educational institution
• Professionalise and facilitate teachers in their role as mentor/confidential adviser
• Provide young people with good information and education about well-being and health
• Redesign social connectedness: ensure that young people can be themselves and connect with one another

Pay attention to group formation within the team

Group formation within the team also deserves attention. Not everyone responds in the same way to major events, and this applies to colleagues as well. As a school and/or team leader, ensure a safe atmosphere in which colleagues can indicate what is troubling them. In this way, you can support your colleagues as effectively as possible. This can be done in team discussions, and one-to-one contact is also very suitable for this purpose.

The start of the new school year is an excellent opportunity for the team to share how colleagues are doing, what concerns and needs they have, and what the team can contribute in this regard. This makes it clear what you can and may expect from one another.