School Return and Balancing Acts

 

Today a phased return to school begins for some children.   While most weary parents, passionate teachers and isolated pupils agree that a full return is needed for all pupils, there are concerns about timing and the practicalities that schools and parents will now face.

Much of the media discussion has surrounded whether or not children are ‘super-spreaders’. A PHA presentation to education officials suggested that Schools are not a ‘major source’ of transmission. It is vital, however, that this discussion is counterbalanced by consideration of the negative impact of long-term school closures and the subsequent isolation of our children and young people. The negative impact of lockdown on their mental health and wellbeing is becoming clear in research from previous school closures, in practice, in our own experiences and in our conversations with family and friends. This impact is exacerbated by the closure of their other face-to-face social networks outside of school- such as sports clubs, youth clubs and societies.

As a trustee of Links Counselling Service I (John) am acutely of the mental health impact of lockdown throughout society. With many community resources unavailable, we are overwhelmed with self-referrals, GP referrals and signposting from other services. Our waiting list, including children aged 4-18, has more than doubled from a year ago despite a larger workforce that ever before. COVID-19 has not only exacerbated pre-existing mental ill health among individuals, families and communities, it has greatly challenged the systems in place to care for them.

Another balancing act

Balance is also needed is within the public (and media) discourse about children’s mental health. While there is clearly cause for concern, we need to avoid fatalism when it comes to our children. This is not the ‘COVID generation’ forever damaged by a ‘tsumani’ of mental health problems, as some of the more dramatic headlines would have you believe. Recent research from the University of Oxford, reported an increase in emotional, attentional and behavioural issues during the first lockdown period. Reassuringly, these issues decreased when lockdown was lifted, but with increased restrictions these issues have re-emerged. This places an emphasis on decision makers to ensure that lockdown restrictions that impact on children and young people are kept as short-term as possible.

However, a deterministic and fatalistic discourse can be counter-productive, cultivating a self-fulfilling prophecy that paralyses systems and prevents them from fully committing to the support that is needed to recover. Our children are so much more than the pandemic they have lived through. They have demonstrated creativity, kindness and resilience. It’s important to remain hopeful and to help our young people to find hope when they are worried about the future. It is the balancing act of our time to hold both of these realities together; that many people are struggling, and that things can get better.

Resilience Resides in Relationships

We often hear it said that ‘children are resilient’, but the truth is a little more nuanced. Psychologists define resilience as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity or significant sources of stress. Resilience means ‘bouncing back’ from difficult experiences, but it also means being empowered to grow and even improve your life along the way. Research has moved away from seeing resilience as a trait that people do or don’t have. There are various individual psychosocial factors that impact resilience levels, but there is also emerging evidence of a bidirectional relationship between healthy communities and more resilient individuals. This is important. It means resilience can be promoted and developed, and schools can play a role in this.

The majority of kids won’t need counselling post-lockdown. They will benefit from getting back to the structured, stable and secure environment of school. The predictable routine, clear expectations and consistent rules help children to feel safe. Then, most importantly, they will need space to play and to reconnect with others. Research also emphasises the important link between children engaging in sport and physical activity and their wellbeing. We need to see a return to these activities too.

Psychiatrist Bruce Perry states that, because humans are inescapably social beings, the worst catastrophes that we can experience are those that involve relational loss. Therefore, recovery must involve re-establishing human connections.Perry states that the most important healing experiences often occur outside therapy and inside homes, schools and communities. Before ‘catching up’ on missed learning we need to let the kids catch up with each other, and with staff. Resilience resides in relationships.

Through relationships we can reassure children that they are experiencing normal reactions to abnormal events. We can help them, as the Dr Marie Hill has outlined, to emotionally regulate before we educate. Prof Barry Carpenter and colleagues have developed practical resources for a Recovery Curriculum that encourages a systematic, relationships-based approach to teaching and learning post-lockdown. This is an example of the creative and systemic approach required to support our children and young people.

That said, every child and young person will come through this differently and there will be a range of responses needed. While all might need something extra, some will need more ‘extra’ than others. Lockdown has exacerbated disadvantage and pre-existing vulnerability. Some young people will need additional systemic and therapeutic support to prevent more severe mental ill health down the line. It’s vital that long-term planning includes improving availability and accessibility of this support.

Ultimately, we need to trust our teachers and school leaders to know how to best support our children post-lockdown. We need to embrace their professional capacity, support the system where we can, and lobby to ensure that they are properly resourced. It is essential that we prioritise children and young people as we emerge from this pandemic. They have been asked to make huge sacrifices and it is now time that we uphold their rights for equitable access to education, play and social development.

Dr John McMullen is an Educational and Child Psychologist, and a Senior Lecturer at Stranmillis University College and Queen’s University Belfast.

Dr Victoria Simms is the Director of Research in the School of Psychology, Ulster University, and is an expert in child development.

Back to School: Learning Together after Lockdown

The sentiment of the popular inspirational acronym ‘Together Everyone Achieves More’ seems so simple that it could easily be dismissed as a platitude. Yet our current circumstances have brought the value of human togetherness into sharp focus. Our language reflects this too:  the English word ‘teams’ has taken on a new dimension, now often referring to images of solitary figures in rooms contained in little boxes on a screen. Until the onset of Covid-19, sharing actual physical spaces with people outside our own homes was an accepted part of daily life. Our places of learning – nurseries, schools, colleges and universities – were particularly social in this respect. Almost without thinking about it, we shared classrooms and lecture theatres, assembly halls and staffrooms. The arrival of the pandemic disrupted this, and possibilities to spend time in common social spaces with family, friends, colleagues and students remain very limited. It has been said that it is not until we lose something that we realise how good it was. So what exactly have we been missing?

Body matters

Rowan Williams in his book Being Human: Bodies, minds, persons, argues that ‘Persons are more than ‘individuals’; they are both spiritual and material, and their uniqueness is fulfilled in community not in isolation and total independence’ (p. viii). Our bodies matter, as well as our minds: we are sensory. In a recent interview for the Irish Times, Irish philosopher Richard Kearney described the Covid-19 pandemic as an ‘attack on the senses’. This is of course true in a very real way for those who have experienced the loss of taste and smell as a symptom of the Covid-19 virus. But it is also true that the pandemic has accelerated the shift from being together physically with other people to communicating virtually. This change had already been ushered in by the digital revolution. There are multiple examples of technology enhancing many aspects of our lives in recent years, not least in education. Schools in Northern Ireland have harnessed the benefits of digital innovation in a particularly admirable way. Interestingly though, Kearney argues that over the past year the speed of the shift has prioritised, and perhaps overloaded, our sense of sight, while at the same time inhibiting our sense of touch. This imbalance is a matter of concern. As Kearney puts it ‘It is no accident that skin is our largest organ … We need computers but we also need carnality.’

Hands on learning

In Kearney’s view, tangibility, or being close enough physically to touch another person or thing renders us vulnerable as human beings, but it also makes us more receptive to other people and our wider environment. This is particularly important in the learning of young children in play as Glenda Walsh and John McMullen have highlighted. We know all too well that touch can cause injury and harm, but over centuries, touch has also been a source of healing. It is by reaching out and engaging with other people and our surroundings at close quarters that we learn, that we learn to communicate, and that we develop empathy. By being close to people we can begin to read them, rather like a book. This is an important aspect of our being, and it is needed for us to flourish.

Mind matters too

Human beings, according to Rowan Williams, are both spiritual and material. Similarly, health is not simply either mental or physical, but embraces the whole person. There are real and valid concerns around physical contamination by a potentially dangerous virus, and these require a concerted response. But they need to be balanced by concerns for health more broadly, and particularly by an awareness of mental health. In a recent blog Noel Purdy highlighted the need to promote emotional health and wellbeing among young people especially. As lockdowns continue across the globe, concern for mental health generally is growing. For example, according to a recent study reported in the Lancet, ‘the increase in probable mental health problems reported in adults also affected 5–16 year olds in England, with the incidence rising from 10·8% in 2017 to 16·0% in July 2020 across age, gender, and ethnic groups’.

The focus of governments has turned in recent weeks to children and young people going back to school. There has been talk of lost months and years of education, identifying learning gaps, catch-up plans and reducing school holidays. In the middle of all this we shouldn’t lose sight of what it is to be human. For according to Rowan Williams, ‘Unless we have a coherent model of what sort of humanity we want to nurture in our society, we shall continue to be at sea over how we teach’ (p. x).

 

On being human … together

Absence might make the heart grow fonder, but spending time with each other in a shared physical space is a vital part of healthy human development and relationships. Not being together has made lockdown periods very difficult for many people,  and young people in particular have found that being apart makes friendships very difficult. Research has also shown that face to face social interaction results in better learning. For example, in language acquisition, Patricia Kuhl’s 2003 early childhood study found that ‘infants show phonetic learning from live, but not pre-recorded, exposure to a foreign language’. Teachers need to spend time face to face with their students. To create learning opportunities that are really valuable we need to get to know peoples’ needs and preferences. And we need to spend time together, talking and listening.

From Zoom to room

There is something of a sense of déjà vu (see last year’s blog) as yet again, we face the prospect of going back to school. The challenges involved in moving from Zoom to room are real. But so are the potential rewards: physical, mental and spiritual. People of all ages are trying to make sense of our world’s complexities and of strangeness of the days and nights that we have known. For this reason, many believe that as far as education is concerned, a playful, nurturing approach will be vital for children and young people, with language and communication, one of its 6 core principles, at its heart. In Northern Ireland it is encouraging to see signs of a commitment by government to this, with funding allocated to a new Nurture Programme.

Experiences of pandemic lockdown have gifted us with a greater awareness of the benefits of technology to keep us connected digitally. But we have also come to understand, perhaps more fully than at any point in history, that isolation from each other physically is unhealthy. Perhaps what we need most is getting back to exactly what we have been missing: being together.

Dr Sharon Jones is a Stranmillis University College Lecturer and member of the Centre for Research in Educational Underachievement

 

Back to School: Curriculum Matters and Covid-19

Every year the prospect of returning to school seems to come upon us earlier and earlier. Even before the summer holidays, shops are filled with rows of shiny new shoes, rails of crisp shirts, schoolbags, and bundles of socks in dazzling shades of clean. This summer in Northern Ireland, as we take ‘baby steps’ towards emerging from lockdown, the prospect of a new school year brings excitement, but also uncertainty. Governors, Principals and teachers are trying to figure out how best to welcome back children and young people, and establish routines that foster health and well-being, both physical and mental. All the talk of the ‘new normal’ can be daunting, for no-one really knows what the experience of school in 2020-21 will be like. The situation presents logistical conundrums to challenge even the most gifted of organisational minds.

Time for Change

But there are other questions too. One that lies close to my own heart is curriculum. When we do get back to school, whatever that might look like, how should we guide the learning of our children and young people? And in this unexpected context, how might we begin to understand success and achievement? Reflecting in The Guardian on education before Covid-19 George Monbiot wrote: ‘In an age in which we urgently need to cooperate, we are educated for individual success in competition with others. Governments tell us that the purpose of education is to get ahead of other people or, collectively, of other nations… But nobody wins the human race’.

The 2007 Northern Ireland Curriculum is a skills-infused framework curriculum that aims to ‘empower young people to achieve their potential and to make informed and responsible decisions through their lives’. This is commendable, but the Northern Ireland Curriculum is 13 years old, and its design was for a Northern Ireland before Covid-19. The word ‘unprecedented’ can feel overused, but the fact remains that we haven’t known times quite like these before. As we look ahead into the new school year and beyond, and in light of the seismic impact of Covid-19, globally and locally, not least in the lives children and young people, a fresh focus on curriculum seems timely and wise. In this piece, I’d like to consider three areas of learning that merit particular attention in our time and place: outdoor learning; the arts and humanities; and character education.

Outdoor Education

We are all aware that we can control infection more effectively outdoors. Furthermore in a recent article in The Guardian Libby Brooks highlighted the growing weight of evidence that suggests that outdoor learning is intrinsically beneficial. For example, learning outside offers great possibilities for building resilience. And if resilience is the ability to bounce back from adversity, this is surely worth developing as we move forward and prepare to live with Covid-19. During lockdown, many of us have been spending more time than usual outside, and as a result we have become more aware of the wonder and beauty of the environment, and the value, both mental and physical, of exercise. We should build on this momentum as we think about curriculum in the months and years ahead. A recent study in Scotland points to the rich learning opportunities of growing food in school gardens, even in urban areas.

Arts and Humanities

Some of the most inspiring a stories in the media during the Covid-19 crisis globally have centred around concern for the good of other people. Most memorably, in Italy, professional musicians sang and performed from their balconies. By sharing their skills in such a beautiful yet simple way, they brought joy to their neighbours and, thanks to technology, to us. Music, they said, can’t be quarantined.

Artists across the world have been facing enormous challenges during the current crisis. But in the middle of it all they have found very creative ways to offer hope. While excellence in science, mathematics and economics are inarguably essential as we seek to develop a vaccine for Covid-19, we should be mindful of the hopefulness and value of the arts and humanities. History, ancient and modern, has much to teach us in relation to our response to disease and pandemics. Moreover, in a fascinating piece, Nathan Fleschner writes of the kind of thinking that studying even the theory of music can foster. He argues convincingly that the arts and humanities can equip young people with the thinking skills needed in our current world, awash as it is with data and fake news.

Character Education

During lockdown, acts of kindness have multiplied in communities around the globe. Here in Northern Ireland, teachers have been at the forefront of magnificent efforts to support the children, young people and their families, and it has been heartening to see local colleagues honoured in this year’s National Association for Pastoral Care in Education awards.

We know that academic excellence is important, but in times of crisis we learn that compassion and kindness are of infinitely greater worth. We should explore initiatives that infuse curriculum with the development of virtues such as The Good Project and the Kindness Curriculum. There are more helpful resources online compiled by the Red Cross.  Another fine project is the Narnia Virtues: a Character Education English Curriculum that encourages the cultivation of good character through engagement with the Narnia Novels by Belfast’s very own C.S. Lewis. Seamus Heaney in his Five Fables, also placed value on the power of story in the development of moral imagination.

Of course great stories are told in many different languages and not just in English. The global resurgence in popularity of Albert Camus’s La Peste during the Covid-19 crisis is testament to this. The power of engaging the imaginations of children in the face of global challenges through story was considered at a recent French studies conference at Stranmillis University College. One of the delegates we welcomed to Belfast is Helen Patuck, who has since published an inspiring picture book to help children understand Covid-19, translated in several languages.

In a recent curriculum blog, I considered French philosopher Paul Ricœur for whom story was the gateway to understanding not only ourselves, but our relationship with the world and others. Ricœur argued that the story of each human being is precious. Children and young people across Northern Ireland and beyond will be returning to school with many different stories, and we should value each one of them.

Conclusion

In different ways, outdoor learning, the arts and humanities, and character education have the potential to generate hope. We must keep this in mind as we contemplate going back to school, as we review curriculum together, seeking to guide the learning of our children and young people, and prepare them to live well and achieve success in the future.

Sharon Jones is Senior Lecturer at Stranmillis University College and a CREU member. She sits on the Editorial Board of The Curriculum Journal.