Promoting resilience in the classroom is becoming a vital part of education and health at the moment – and for a good reason.
Recent data from a headspace national survey found that one in three young people aged between 12-25 years old reported high or very high levels of psychological distress – a rate that has more than tripled since 2007.
With 53 per cent of our nation’s youth claiming to be cyberbullied, and two in five (43.7 per cent) Australians aged between 16-85 experiencing a mental health disorder, students are clearly struggling to cope. Teaching resilience in the classroom can give them the tools they need.
The developments of modern technologies and the disruptions to education throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, left Australia’s students feeling more isolated and vulnerable than ever before. When looking at the stress caused by other issues, such as conflicts within friendship groups, bullying, family turmoil or issues of identity, it’s easy to see why these obstacles may feel overwhelming in the eyes of a child.
But what can teachers do? Child therapist and school counsellor Phyllis Fagell says, “While caregivers can’t always alter children’s circumstances or shield them from discomfort, they can offer a more enduring gift: tools to manage adversity.”
Organisations like Reach Out Australia are already leading the charge. Their aim is to help students to develop the skills to build resilience and a growth mindset. They do so via an entirely digital service that offers comprehensive resources to guide parents and teachers through educating resilience.
What it means to be resilient
Being resilient is having the capacity to overcome challenges. It is a crucial ability for navigating life’s ups and downs and one of the essential elements of success. Students’ past experiences, sense of self, their personalised coping mechanisms they have honed over time, and their unique perspective based on lived experiences all impact their resilience.
It is important to instil in students the idea that failure serves as a springboard for achievement and is an essential part of the learning process.
Mary Alvord, co-author of “Resilience Builder Program for Children and Adolescents.” states that “resilience works like a muscle we can build through effort and repetition, and we want to keep our muscles strong and flexible, so we can think of many ways to solve a problem”.
Tips for building resilience in the classroom
Setting ambitious goals
A major part of developing resilience is identifying personal goals, understanding possible obstacles and overcoming them to achieve the outcome. By setting ambitious goals in the classroom, teachers can ensure students engage with and overcome these obstacles in their education.
To do this, many educators have used the SMART framework. The acronym stands for:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Timely
This method gives students a clear pathway to measure their progress, clarify ideas, and focus their efforts towards achieving their future career and life goals.
Promote Positive Emotions
A positive view provides a better state of mind to face issues and manage anxiety and stress when facing fear, disappointment, and rejection. Studies show that university students who are introduced to positive thinking and mindfulness do better overall because they learn to tolerate and manage their negative emotions.
Try having students practise gratitude by writing down one thing they are grateful for, or encouraging them to become involved in their community by volunteering.
You can also:
- Write and talk about what it means to be resilient
In the words of British author Alain De Botton, “The difference between despair and hope is just a different way of telling stories from the same set of facts.” Try asking students to write about what resilience means, elaborate on the traits they associate with resilience and ask them to apply that to a personal situation.
By building a tangible connection with resilience in their own lives, students become more aware of how it impacts their decisions and reframes how they look at impeding obstacles, both in and out of the classroom.
Teach the importance of self-care
Understanding the importance of self-care and well-being is vital to building resilience in students, especially during the tumultuous formative years of tertiary education. Recent mental health studies have found that “engaging in a self-care routine has been clinically proven to reduce or eliminate anxiety and depression, reduce stress, increase happiness, and more feel secure and ready to handle life’s obstacles.”
Remember to promote campus resources and encourage students to access help when needed, clarifying where and how they can find support. For example, make it clear and easy for students to directly schedule appointments with an advisor, counsellor or mentor within your school when they feel overwhelmed or want assistance outside the classroom.
Encourage students to take risks
Recognising and praising students for taking risks and pushing boundaries — even when they don’t find the desired results — is one method to promote resilience. For example, this could be as simple as praising students for speaking up in class, even when the answers may be wrong.
In a report on “Using Praise to Enhance Student Resilience and Learning Outcomes”, Stanford University psychology professor Carol Dweck notes that “offering praise for students’ work and efforts can alter this mindset so that students can begin to view their own intelligence as something that can be developed.”
Ms Dweck also states that “this mindset of developing intelligence will increase students’ ability to “bounce back” in the face of academic setbacks and other difficulties.”
