VIEWS & OPINION
Life’s not all about exams - let’s focus more on students’ social and
emotional well-being Comment by FLEUR SEXTON, joint managing director, PET-Xi
Teachers, pupils and their parents alike are breathing a collective sigh of relief that exams are over and the summer break is upon us. Such is the focus on academic success in our society that it often seems results are valued above all else. From SATS to GCSEs, children are constantly tested and research shows that disadvantaged children, who on average have lower attainment than their peers and are therefore under greater pressure to meet targets, can become disaffected as a result of experiencing ‘failure’. I believe it’s important that we increase the amount of attention devoted
to children’s emotional well-being - not least because it is vital for learning in the classroom, but also because it creates the foundations for healthy behaviours and helps prevent future problems with mental health and other behavioural issues such as substance misuse. Children’s worries are often particularly acute at this time of year when
transition from primary to secondary school can be such a worry for many. Most schools employ a range of strategies to support this transition including using ‘bridging materials’, taster visits and joint events. Although children may be concerned about the new academic work ahead
of them, in fact most of their concerns are social and emotional. Will they make new friends? Be able to deal with a variety of teachers and additional subjects? Be bullied? Get lost? Cope with their first experience of travelling on their own? Transition is a huge focus for primary and secondary teachers who work
hard to make the journey from Year 6 to Year 7 as smooth as possible. But in addition to the formal transition activities, teachers can make a real difference in less obvious ways by keeping an eye out for unusual behaviours. While most children will share the common worries about their move, there will be some children whose worries go beyond what could be termed ‘normal’. Look out for those who become ‘clingy’ and cry, become quiet, exhibit more challenging behaviour or even absent themselves from school – these children may need especially focused additional support. Above all try to encourage one major character trait – resilience, a vital skill
for life. Teach resilience and you will do them a huge favour. A resilient child will become a grounded adult who is better able to cope with change. After all our lives are always full of change – we move house, jobs, get new partners, become parents - and the move to senior school is really just the first in what will be a series of new situations to embrace. It’s important to start early – children with high self-esteem make better
decisions under peer pressure, are more likely to ask for help when they need it, and to take responsibility for their own learning. It can be useful to ask children to think about another situation where they
have drawn on their own resources and been resilient in order to cope. Resilience is a transferable skill which will stand them in good stead for their entire life. Encourage them to recognize when they feel anxious and suggest coping strategies such as mindfulness and ‘’outrospection’’ – focusing on ways we can help others and focus on our place in the community rather than on our individual situation. Most children settle into their new secondary school within a few weeks. They probably don’t realise that they’ve also taken a major step in
developing a skill for life that will eventually help them with employability too. Independent living skills don’t just pop up when a child becomes 18 – they have to be developed and this first move to ‘big school’ is actually an important part of that.
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www.education-today.co.uk
Protecting pupils from online bullying
Comment by MARK BENTLEY, London Grid for Learning
We often hear that bullies are cowards, so what better bullying method than using a mobile phone from the comfort of your living room or the other end of the school! The tell-tale signs are the same for all forms of bullying, so it is
often unhelpful to see online and offline bullying as different. HMI David Brown often stressed that he would like to see the term cyberbullying eradicated. He says that bullying is bullying and should be treated in the same way – and he is quite right. Pupils face the effects of bullying wherever they (and their smartphones) go. If one form of bullying is a safeguarding issue, then surely all others are, too. In 2015, we carried out the LGfL Online Safety Survey, and of
the 14,000 responses, one in five young people reported that they had been bullied online; one in ten admitted to bullying others! Whilst it is impossible to spot 100% of cases in our young people, it is crucial that we are prepared to do so, with proactive and reactive strategies and policies in place. Whilst it is quite natural that some school staff will feel more at
home in the ‘online world’ than others (and we must remember that young people do not see ‘online’ and ‘offline’ as different places), one key way to know what is going on is to listen. Teachers need to create spaces where pupils can discuss the issues that they face. Moreover, we mustn’t underestimate the role that pupils can
play themselves. Childnet’s excellent Digital Leaders’ Programme is a fantastic example of a pupil-led online safety programme that equips young people to be the drivers and shapers of the digital citizenship and online-safety training our young people need. What better way for them to take ownership of their own education. Anecdotal evidence would seem to suggest that, for many
young people, awareness of many online-safety issues is now at a healthy high (especially compared to adults!). But the harder question to measure is to what extent young people put ‘the rules’ into action. That is a tricky question to answer, but returning to our survey:
of those reporting that they had been bullied by messages or pictures that they had been sent, 60 per cent had told someone about it (and of that number, 76% told a parent or carer). That is something that we must capitalise upon, ensuring that all adults working or living with young people are prepared for and open to facilitating these discussions. If you or your colleagues feel in any way unequipped for this, why not take a look at some of the resources on the LGfL online-safety portal
os.lgfl.net. The LGfL Safeguarding Board has collated an extensive database of resources from a range of providers to support teachers, school leaders and parents in teaching, raising awareness, writing policies and strategies, and ensuring best-practice safeguarding. It is great and important that we know about what our young
people are doing online, so it is good to keep up to speed with the latest app (when did you last send a Yo! or a Kik or open the Yik Yak app?). But knowing that every day brings a new hit app to our
children’s phones, it is a good job that actually, good digital citizenship on any platform is based upon the same issues that underpin all social interactions, and have done for hundreds of year: What is a friend? Who is my friend? What should I do if someone asks me to do something that makes me uncomfortable? Where can I go for help?
July/August 2016
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