The 'Wellness Factor'
No student has escaped the effects of the pandemic on their lives in and outside of school. As McKinsey notes,
schools provide so much more than academics. The pandemic has underscored the importance of investing in mental-health support, motivational coaching, skills training, and new support structures that could lead to an improved education experience.
It is undeniable that the ‘whole student’ must be considered when developing COVID-related learning recovery strategies, and, given the nature of the augmented one-on-one support being offered, working with a Language + Communication Specialist, in addition to identifying and bridging learning gaps in literacy, will also serve to boost public mental health mandates and, most importantly, the overall wellness of individual students.
Likewise, COVID-19 shook educators both professionally and personally, a reality which cannot be extricated from classroom performance. Teacher wellbeing is critical to successful pandemic learning recovery. In August 2021, the Education Development Trust published a detailed report that set out stepped recommendations for fostering teacher support in navigating the post-pandemic classroom:
Globally, our teachers will be charged with the heavy lifting when it comes to leading learning recovery. As school systems continue to reopen, teachers will need to respond not only to students’ deepened academic losses. . .but also to their socio-emotional wellbeing.
Steps 2 and 3 refer directly to engaging
the teacher’s voice . . .[and] identify[ing] teachers’ needs for successful learning recovery,” as well as designing “programme[s] of support. . .to equip teachers with what they need to deliver learning recovery plans.
While the Trust’s mandate tends to focus more on educational crises in developing countries, its claims here are universally applicable: teachers require support now more than ever, and the Trust’s directives clearly connect to our local public education wellness programming.
Working with a Language + Communication Specialist who offers enhanced writing, oral communication, and reading support to students in consultation with families and, when warranted and possible, schools and/or subject teachers, will provide much-needed relief from increasingly overwhelming teaching loads and individualized student support requirements. This can only serve to support teachers in keeping the important, implicit educational promise they make to their students.
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