Building resilience and wellbeing in students; an interview with geographer and pastoral expert, Karen Corfield

As “normal” school life appears to be settling down after what has probably been the most tumultuous year any of us will face, many of our concerns are shifting to an entire generation who have missed out on the structure of school, the joys of socialising with friends and being able to see a world outside of their own living room.

Whilst these concerns have stretched to the barriers in students’ academic achievements, more and more of our colleagues have expressed a worry for students’ resilience and wellbeing.

These two words have received a lot of buzz since the return to school and for good reason too.

We caught up with our colleague Karen Corfield, now an Education Travel Manager here at Discover the World Education, but formerly a Pastoral Deputy, about the importance of increasing students’ wellbeing and resilience.

So how as educators, do we change what we are doing in the education environment to equip them with the skills that they may need again in the future? Let’s challenge our students, allow them to face adversity and situations that are a little different to the norm, allow them to take a risk.

Mental wellbeing is of particular importance to children and young people, as it is thought to influence the way in which an individual copes with key life events such as stress, trauma and physical ill-health.”

Resilience is a life skill, a typical 13 year old has 180 days a year in school and schools provide the perfect environment to build resilience in our students. I have found throughout my teaching career that it is often discussed in the early years, but with the pressures of exams, results and general adolescent issues, older students will find that it is often left out of the classroom dialogue.

Resilience does not always materialise organically for each student, we need to create situations, within a safe and comfortable environment that allow students to respond to challenge and setbacks.

When students have resilience, they are open to learning because they believe that they can learn; they are receptive to assistance because it is not a criticism of their abilities; and they are comfortable not understanding concepts immediately because they see learning as a pursuit of knowledge and know that motivation and effort are just as important as knowing how to do something. When students do not have these attitudes about learning, we must not only encourage them to be confident and “keep trying,” but we should also teach them about resilience and perseverance.

Children with higher levels of emotional, behavioural, social and school wellbeing, on average, have higher levels of academic achievement and are more engaged in school, both concurrently and in later years. When they look after their mental health and develop their coping skills it can help them to boost their resilience, self-esteem and confidence. It can also help them learn to settle themselves, feel calm, and engage positively with their education. Not only are those with better mental wellbeing likely to deal better with stressful events and recover more quickly from illness, but they are also less likely to engage in behaviours which may put their health at risk.

Let’s provide our students with the tools to be successful in the real world, where the safety harness is taken off, yet they still take risks, have fun, smile, laugh and achieve. ”