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Practical Wellbeing Strategies for Students: Beyond the Classroom
Supporting student wellbeing beyond the classroom involves more than just academic focus. It’s about fostering a holistic environment where students feel emotionally supported, resilient, and mentally healthy.
September 27, 2024
Of course curriculum plays a mammoth part in education, but there are deeper pillars we need to work with as well. In our bid for a better world, it makes sense to start with student wellbeing. It’s a fundamental factor that makes or breaks education experiences, affecting high school students on both an academic and personal development front.
As educators, it’s up to us to begin to foster a more supportive and nurturing environment in our schools. We need to dig deep and get close and personal with the social and emotional challenges students experience both inside and outside the classroom. So let’s get to it.
Understanding the Importance of Student Wellbeing
At the core, we do our best to educate the next generation for the wellbeing of the world and those who live in it. So it only makes sense that cultivating a safe and happy educational environment is the first step to creating long-lasting ripples of change.
Instinct aside, science agrees too. Time and time again, research has found that happy, safe students perform better academically than their peers. The Journal of School Psychology published that students with high levels of wellbeing not only perform better academically, but they also have higher attendance rates and radiate more positive behaviours in the classroom.
In contrast, their peers who struggled with mental health were at a much higher risk of academic failure, skipping school and exhibiting behavioural issues.
Research in our own backyard has also proven this. A 2020 study by the Australian Council for Educational Research showed that students engaged in school-based wellbeing programs were up to four months ahead in their curriculum. And it’s all just down to feeling good, huh?
Challenges Faced by High School Students
Well, it’s not quite as simple as that. Any good educator understands their classroom is home to a complicated intersectional playground. And although we’re making leaps and bounds as a society, there’s no doubt our young people are bearing the brunt of a trickier modern era.
Common challenges include academic pressure and the need to succeed, social dynamics, family issues and the pervasive influence of social media. It’s the perfect storm for mental health disorders.
A study by the Pew Research Center found that 70% of teens see anxiety and depression as major problems among their peers. And it’s no wonder: today’s students face a constant pressure to succeed in order to ‘save’ a seemingly crumbling world, coupled with the normal quirks of navigating life as it morphs from childhood to adulthood.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. As educators, we have the power to change the playing field and make for smoother sailing. We’ll show you how.
Practical Strategies for Supporting Student Wellbeing
It’s all well and good to know we need to foster better environments in our classrooms, but how do we begin? It all starts with simple, actionable strategies.
1. Creating a Positive Classroom Environment
A positive classroom environment is the foundation of student wellbeing. Teachers can create a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere by building strong relationships with students, showing genuine interest in their lives, and being approachable and supportive. Simple gestures, such as greeting students at the door, can make a significant difference in how students feel about coming to class. It might sound too simple to be effective, but the direct relationships with our students are foundational.
2. Incorporating Mindfulness and Relaxation Techniques
It might be the buzzword of the decade, but mindfulness is popular because it actually has merit. Huge merit. As proven effective ways to manage stress and anxiety, you can begin incorporating short mindfulness exercises into your classroom without any experience at all.
Try beginning with deep breathing or guided meditations. You can easily weave this into the classroom schedule, and can make a world of a difference for your students. This is a great resource to begin your journey with mindfulness in the classroom.
3. Encouraging Physical Activity
We all know that moving can boost our mental health, so why not bring it into the classroom? Encourage your students to participate in regular physical activity to boost their mood, reduce stress, and improve their overall wellbeing. Some of our favourite ideas include incorporating structured physical education classes, promoting active breaks during the school day, and letting loose and opening up the classroom to have a boogie.
4. Promoting Social Connections
Next up is fostering strong social connections. The way we interact with each other is pivotal for our wellbeing. So as educators, we need to actively create opportunities for students to build meaningful relationships with each other. Think group projects, collaborative learning activities, and social events. Creating a classroom culture that values respect, empathy, and inclusivity can help students feel connected and supported.
5. Teaching Emotional Literacy
Wellbeing is the cornerstone of a happier life, and emotional literacy is one of the most potent tools we can use to get there. But what is this magical concept? It’s the ability to understand and manage emotions effectively. Teaching students to recognise and express their emotions in healthy ways will boost their wellbeing like nothing else. The best part is that it’s easily integrated into an already-existing curriculum through lessons on emotional intelligence, role-playing activities, and discussions about feelings and empathy.
6. Providing Access to Support Services
Our last key point is fostering a safe space that allows students to feel heard and seen in their times of need. Ensuring that students have access to mental health resources and support services is crucial. As educators, we need to know the resources available within the school like the back of our hands. And even further, we need to actively play a role in supporting students who need the support to get there. By creating a culture where seeking help is normalised and encouraged, we can make a significant impact on the individual and collective wellbeing of our students.
The Role of Experts: Inviting Tomorrow Woman
As an educator, your students likely trust you and your bid to create a better classroom. But there’s something potent about opening the door to outside experts who can boost student perspectives and change the way they see the world.
That’s where we come in at Tomorrow Woman. We’re industry leaders in building emotional literacy and we’re on a mission to embed boldness into the next generation with our ground-breaking program, Her Tomorrow.
Across four modules, we take students on an in-depth journey towards embodying their inner power, guided by the pillars of assertive communication, emotional awareness, self acceptance, relationships skills, community building and personal agency.
We’ve found that 95% of our clients believe the skills learnt, and themes discussed in these workshops will change their life for the better. You can learn more about our impact here.
Are you a teacher, principal or parent looking to uplevel wellbeing in the classroom? Feel free to send us an email here to find out more about our workshops.
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Tomorrow Woman is a social enterprise in partnership with Tomorrow Man and Tomorrow Architects. Our offices are located in Sydney and Melbourne – and we travel everywhere across Australia.
Acknowledgement of Country
We respectfully acknowledge the first custodians of the land on which we live and work, the Wurrundjeri People of the Kulin Nation. We pay respects to Elders past, present and emerging and to all First Nations People. Sovereignty was never ceded and treaties were never signed.
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