Social, Emotional, and Mental Wellness
The Charge
Create and maintain district- and school-level infrastructures to prioritize and nurture the social-emotional well-being of students, as well as the educators who serve them.
RESEARCH FINDINGS:
The pandemic has taken its toll on everyone, including students, families, and educators.
As schools continue toward so-called normalcy, stakeholders cannot ignore the repercussions of the previous years on social-emotional well-being.
Educators and families recognize that students have significant social and emotional needs that warrant attention in the return to classroom learning.
Educators vehemently assert the detriment to center students’ social-emotional well-being.
Nonetheless, the prevalent focus in schools continues to reflect the testing industry discourse on “learning loss” and “COVID slide,” prompting educators to feel pressured to develop students’ discrete skills as a means to increase test scores.
Teachers, counselors, and other stakeholders need time, resources, and administrative support to prioritize well-being as a central feature of daily practice, collaborating with one another to ensure every child feels safe, cared for, and valued in schools.
Potential Action Steps:
Ensure educators feel prepared to mediate trauma-informed pedagogy and respond to students’ social-emotional needs.
Consider your school’s infrastructure for mental health, including stakeholders who can provide these supports in multiple languages.
Provide students with safe spaces in classrooms and schools to discuss issues impacting their mental health and well-being.
Provide educators with free therapy and mental-health resources to support them as they maneuver their own challenges and those of students.
Brief
Department of Education, Addressing the Impact of COVID-19 on Multilingual Learners and their Social-Emotional Well-being