Topic 3 How can educators support their students’ mental wellbeing?
According to WHO (ibid.), teachers can support their students’ wellbeing by:
- Accepting each student’s unique character traits.
- Recognising the different developmental stages of children, setting age-appropriate tasks, and using age-appropriate disciplining.
- Showing empathy and by caring about the emotional wellbeing of each student.
- Being familiar with verbal and non-verbal communication of students, and by responds to these signals in an appropriate and timely manner.
- Communicating effectively and clearly.
- Setting clear expectations regarding student behaviour, and by setting boundaries to create a productive structure for the students.
- Supporting the students’ self-esteem.
- Showing zero tolerance to any discriminatory / inappropriate behaviour.
- Detecting and managing problems at an early stage. Early intervention is more likely to prevent more serious mental illness.
- Balancing “the risk of labelling” a child at an early age. Teachers’ goal should not be to diagnose children but rather to identify their difficulties, offer school support, and, when necessary, (e.g., when the student continues to deteriorate despite school efforts), refer to experts.
