0 items
(Close Menu)

Tag: Wellbeing

Report: School-based Support for Syrian Refugee Pupils in Northern Ireland

Posted on by Andrew McAteer


Over the past 5 years Northern Ireland has welcomed approximately 1,900 Syrian refugees, including almost 700 school-aged children and young people, through the Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme (VPRS). Many of these have experienced war and persecution, and a range of additional adversities during and post-migration. Alongside language proficiency, ‘trauma’ has been the most common challenge reported by school staff to the Education Authority’s (EA) Intercultural Education Service (IES). In response, during 2020-21 a new pilot referral service for schools, the Schools Trauma Advisory and Referral Service (STARS), was formed, with the overall aim of reducing the impact of trauma as a barrier to learning and managing the demands of a school day.

This independent research was funded by the EA and had the following aims: i: to better understand the educational experiences of Syrian refugee pupils and explicate the support requirements of teachers and schools; 2: to investigate barriers to accessing the educational environment which may have resulted from the sequelae of previous trauma; 3: to provide an evidence base to inform the service design and delivery of STARS.

A Review of International Evidence

The report contains three distinct strands. The first is a scoping review of international evidence relating to school-based interventions, practices and approaches that address trauma and other psychosocial difficulties among refugee pupils since 2010. This summarised the findings from 11 studies, covering a range of trauma-informed practice in schools ranging from CBT-based interventions to other informed by a TST model, to a wide array of alternative approaches that harness the beneficial effects of music, art and play. We paid particular attention to how these interventions had been implemented in their unique contexts, and with what outcomes, to identify effective, engaging and efficient modes of working.

Consulting with Syrian Refugee Pupils and their Parents

The second strand is a pair of surveys with Syrian parents and pupils to identify barriers and difficulties experienced in school, including those relation to experiences of trauma. Given the exceptional school closures at the time due to the Covid-19, direct engagement through focus groups or interviews was not an option. Survey responses nonetheless covered a significant proportion of Syrian refugee families in Northern Ireland (~20%) and bring their vital voices into the research.

Gathering teachers to share experiences

Finally, a set of online focus groups with teachers investigated the support requirements of teachers and schools, and any barriers to education resulting from the sequelae of previous trauma amongst refugee pupils. 16 teachers representing a range of statutory educational settings were involved in the focus groups, and highlighted a desire for more widespread and available training and support for teachers educating multilingual, trauma-affected children and young people.

The report ends by identifying six major findings and makes six associated recommendations for consideration by EA colleagues and other related agencies.

1. Language acquisition is the main challenge

The first is that language issues were highlighted by all research participants as the main barrier to education and a major area where support is perceived to be lacking. We conclude that language as a barrier needs to be re-visited in terms of commissioning of services as there is not enough capacity in terms of either resourcing or teacher expertise/capacity. In addition, measures to address the impact of language barriers in accessing trauma support are greatly needed.

2. A strong evidence base exists for school-based interventions and practices

Our scoping review found a diverse range of potentially beneficial school-based interventions and practices that support refugee children and adolescents’ recovery from traumatic experiences worldwide. Where they converge is to demonstrate that it is vital that any interventions/practices are culturally sensitive and contextualised, taking into account the participants’ priorities, norms and values. Partnership with members of the Syrian community and other community organisations in the selection, adaptation, implementation and evaluation of interventions is vital.

3. Trauma has impacted some but not all

Our focus group results suggested that there is a default assumption among some school staff that all refugee pupils have experienced trauma and have barriers to learning as a result. However, while a third of Syrian parents reported that their children had experienced a traumatic event, this did not seem to be a barrier to accessing the educational environment according to most parents and pupils. A minority did report signs of trauma including attachment issues, avoidance, separation anxiety, and being quiet and withdrawn. There is a need for psychoeducation to develop understandings of trauma, and of mental health and wellbeing in general, both within the Syrian refugee community and amongst school staff.

4. Schools have a lack of information about refugee pupils

Schools reported a lack of knowledge about refugee pupils’ history and background. In the absence of this information, the biographical experiences that they relate to teachers may lead to the default assumption that trauma has impacted their wellbeing and learning. In the report we suggest systemic approaches through which professionals could gather information about prevalence and impact of previous experiences.

5. Schools have had success, but clear guidance is required

Syrian parents’ and pupils’ reports on school experiences and support were overwhelmingly positive. The focus groups with school staff highlighted professional commitment, passion and creativity in using existing knowledge and understanding, and in a sourcing a range of external supports to support Syrian children and young people. However, some school staff stated that they often had to rely on instinct or personal experience, rather than expertise, which made them feel inadequate and worried about the quality of their provision. A ‘Best Practice Guide’ for supporting refugee and asylum seeking pupils could provide evidence-informed, best practice advice for schools. There are good examples from other areas, but a Northern Ireland-specific, contextualised, guide is needed. In the report we have made further suggestions for what this could include.

6. The EA’s Intercultural Education Service support is valued and should be extended

Existing support is widely seen as helpful and is appreciated by teachers and schools. Interaction with IES/STARS personnel was consistently described as positive and helpful, but there was a clear call for this to be more widely available and accessible. With the addition of Educational Psychology staff to IES there is potential for a joined-up, responsive team with diverse expertise to deliver a holistic service for refugee and other newcomer children and young people.
Trauma training should be available for all schools and all staff, regardless of a school’s VPRS pupil population or a staff member’s role. Further collaboration and integration of trauma-informed training and practice across the EA and beyond may better serve school staff. Finally, local training/networking events that bring together staff from neighbouring schools to connect, share best practice, exchange resources and insights, and build capacity were highly sought-after by teachers in our focus groups. These could be facilitated by IES/STARS through reflective practice groups or group process consultation, which would be an effective and efficient approach to supporting a large number of refugee pupils.

Click here to read the full report

Click here to register for the CREU webinar on June 23rd 2021

School Return and Balancing Acts

Posted on by Andrew McAteer

 

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

Posted on by Andrew McAteer

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

 

Prioritising Play when Schools Reopen

Posted on by Andrew McAteer

In this blog John McMullen reflects on his lockdown experiences as a parent and his hopes for playful learning as schools re-open, making links to relevant research. Glenda Walsh concludes with some practical ideas for how we can prioritise and promote play post-lockdown.

Dr John McMullen is an Educational and Child Psychologist, and Senior Lecturer at Stranmillis University College.

Dr Glenda Walsh is Assistant Director of CREU, Head of Early Years Education and Principal Lecturer at Stranmillis University College.

The last CREU blog considered the positive experiences of some children and families during lockdown. Whilst not negating the severe challenges for many, this was a welcome, hopeful piece. When asked about hope in a recent podcast, the words of Howard Zinn came to mind: ‘If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places – and there are so many – where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.’

I’ve been inspired by the creativity, support and fun emanating from many teachers, parents and carers during lockdown. Much of this innovation would not have occurred without the adversity of a pandemic, and the most hopeful aspects appear to centre around play. Children have spent more time playing, and the adults appear to have become more playful too, including dads! During lockdown fathers have nearly doubled the time they spend on childcare. While it’s still less than mothers do overall, this is important. Recent research tells us that father-infant play, often in the form of physical play such as rough and tumble, is linked to positive social, emotional and cognitive outcomes.

Playing with my daughter has been the sunshine through the grey clouds of COVID-19. The closing of childcare put pressure on work life but provided, and necessitated, more play in family life. We’ve enjoyed camping trips, lighting fires, Lego, building rockets, exploring woods and rivers, eating fruit that we grew, and catching bugs. Caring for children can be demanding, but when we allow ourselves to see the world through a child’s eyes, in their adventure and their wonder, playfulness can benefit our well-being as much as theirs. As schools start back it feels like it has never been more important to prioritise play.

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; We grow old because we stop playing.”

George Bernard Shaw

The Importance of Play

Regardless of a child’s situation, learning through play is crucial for development. Playing helps children to be happy and healthy in their lives today, but also to develop the skills to be the creative, engaged learners of tomorrow. Play experiences can support the development of early literacy and numeracy skills in an integrated manner, while also cultivating children’s social, emotional, physical, and creative skills. Through play children also develop executive functioning, language, and a sense of agency, which are pre-requisites for success in school.

Learning through play is sometimes associated solely with preschool and viewed as purely child-directed and unstructured. However there is a growing evidence base for the importance of playful experiences throughout school and in life-long learning. Pedagogical approaches including active learning, collaborative and cooperative learning, problem-solving and project work are highly relevant to learning through play beyond the early years of schooling. Play may be important in helping children of all ages to move beyond the learning of key content and facts, to a deeper conceptual understanding that allows them to apply their knowledge to different situations, spark new ideas, step into uncertainty, create opportunities for themselves and their communities, and learn throughout life.

The Problem with Play

Despite near universal consensus on the importance of play, research has identified obstacles in practice such as appropriate provision, adults’ roles, parental expectations, top-down pressures, and a perceived dichotomy between play and work. Where teachers do not have confidence and competence in translating quality playful approaches into practice, it follows that not all children will have access to play, let alone good quality play, in their educational setting. This situation could potentially worsen in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as teachers are asked to prioritise ‘catching up’ on academic learning.

We caution against a dichotomous mindset. We argue for a more expansive understanding of play as learning in practice, where all aspects of children’s learning – personal, social, and academic can be fully enhanced and where playing, learning and teaching become fully synchronised. Perhaps if we see play as ‘the highest form of research’ as Einstein (may have) stated, it will embolden the community around each child to provide consistent, high quality, playful learning experiences.

The Impact of COVID-19

Not all children will have enjoyed playful experiences during lockdown. Almost all will have spent less time playing with children outside of their own family, i.e. their peer group. We do not know the long-term impact, if any, that widespread social isolation will have on their wellbeing.  However, some insight is offered by a recent rapid systematic review of 80 studies, published from 1946-2020, of the impact of social isolation and loneliness on the mental health of children and adolescents. This suggested that social isolation and loneliness increase the risk of depression and anxiety in children, and that duration of loneliness was more strongly correlated with mental health symptoms than intensity of loneliness. The authors concluded that there is likely to be high rates of depression and probably anxiety during and after social isolation ends. As a response, a number of mental health experts have urged the government to prioritise children’s play, socialising and emotional wellbeing over formal lessons and academic progress when schools reopen. This was supported and emphasised in the Department of Education NI guidance sent to all schools in June 2020.

How to Prioritise and Promote Play Post-Lockdown

The Lego Foundation have identified five essential characteristics of playful learning, namely joy, meaning, active engagement, social interaction, and iteration. Practical suggestions for facilitating these rich playful learning experiences were highlighted in a previous blog. For example, through child in playful bubbles wearing the same coloured wrist band, discouraging as far as possible children interacting in bubbles beyond that of their own in an effort to maintain a form of social distancing between groups. In addition, instead of making use of commercial play resources which may require deep cleaning on a daily basis, the time is ripe to make greater use of junk play materials such as cardboard boxes, rope, string, polystyrene, plastic bottles, and containers to name but a few, and an array of natural resources including bark, seeds, sand, mud, stones, pebbles, leaves, twigs and straw, all of which can be easily replaced on a daily basis. Indeed, as the risk of infection from Covid-19 is less prevalent in the outdoors, according to the scientific evidence, it seems only fitting to make greater use of the outdoors and in so doing provide a range of playful experience that are filled with many possibilities and adventure. Outdoors, children can engage in a variety of playful experiences in their bubble, whether it be building dens, climbing trees, exploring wildlife, gardening, playing in mud kitchens, engaging in STEM activities with water and sand, undertaking a range of physical exercises or simply having fun with their peers.

At present we are only too aware that further lockdowns might be re-introduced and if this happens to be the case, it’s vital that a playful pedagogy continues. Dr. Bo Stjerne Thomsen provides some useful ideas from a school in Denmark for transitioning to distance learning using playful pedagogies. In recent months during the lockdown experience in Northern Ireland it has similarly been encouraging to see the excellent response of the Education sector in advocating a playful approach to teaching and learning in the home (e.g. https://www.stran.ac.uk/ideas-for-active-minds/).

Perhaps the way forward lies in extending these home-learning ideas practised during lockdown, by introducing a somewhat playful approach to homework tasks. As parents, we know only too well the challenge it is to get young children to complete sedentary worksheets at home, already tired after a long school day and by so doing, frequently denying them that precious time to engage in more play-based activities at home and outside. As schools begin to re-open after lockdown, we suggest that not only is it a priority to foster a playful approach to teaching and learning in our classrooms but a more playful approach might also be infused into homework tasks in general.

“Play with me Daddy!”

My 3-year-old doesn’t know it yet, but this is an invitation to join her, not only in fun and adventure, but in the highest form of research; in her wonder and questioning; in her cognitive, social, emotional and physical development; and in building life skills she will need now and after this pandemic. What a privilege for parents and teachers alike.