Student Well-being
THEY MATTER.
Schools and teachers do not simply exist for the sake of depositing information in students. Education is not simply a means of transferring data, regurgitating information, and memorizing dates or definitions. At the center of education, there is the student. Teachers often fall into the restrictive perspective of students becoming involved in the process of what Paolo Freire describes as the “banking method.” Students are not seen as agents or individuals with voice, but rather students are passive learners and recipients of information. This interaction renders the student as powerless and insignificant to the educational process. With this line of thinking, the student’s well-being is meaningless; after all, the only purpose of the teacher, the student, and the classroom is to deposit information from one context to the other.
If teachers (and the system of education) are to provide a meaningful, effective, and safe learning environment, the student must be acknowledged, which begins with ensuring that the student’s well-being is addressed in the classroom. Student well-being can be interpreted through a variety of characteristics and aspects. To attempt to fully understand the student, teachers must acknowledge that students are multifaceted individuals with funds of knowledge and a powerful testimony. When student identity is neglected, student well-being is equally ignored; however, when student identity is promoted and appreciated, student well-being is equally acknowledged and improved. While students can fall under several identities and backgrounds that are all significant to developing student well-being, the following sections highlight three specific groups of students and the importance of well-being:
Silent or Shy Students
Teachers easily overlook the social and emotional needs of students who do not actively voice assistance or interaction, and these students who do not often speak up in class tend to be mistaken as not needing our help or attention.
Frequently, teachers allow these students to remain quiet and unbothered as a method to protect them from possible social discomfort or conflict; however, research indicates that these practices can potentially endanger student achievement as well as social and cognitive development.
As previously mentioned, student agency is crucial to developing student well-being, and for teachers to purposely (though with good intention) not acknowledge shyness in a manner of initiating student autonomy poses a threat for these students to improve their social and emotional wellness in the classroom environment.
1
Ethnic Minority Students
When students of ethnic minorities exist in classrooms that are biased to middle-class, Euro-centric educational norms, these students will often lack the sense of belonging as well as lack of social and academic engagement.
Do teachers know their students? Do teachers actively attempt to create culturally responsive pedagogies that engage racially and ethnically marginalized students? When students are included in the curriculum and practices, student motivation and well-being improves. Students will represent and participate in schools that represent and empower the students.
2
LGBTQ+ Students
3
One of the main components affecting student well-being includes supportive and encouraging peer relationships in school settings, in which various forms of bullying negatively affects promoting social and emotional wellness.
Especially for students in the LGBTQ+ community, research states the LGBT youth are more likely than their non-LGBT peers to be bullied, face peer rejection, and victimization in school.
With this in mind, LGBTQ youth who are bullied are more likely to engage in destructive behavior, be depressed, have stress and anxiety later in their lives, have lower self-esteem, and attempt suicide. These factors directly affect student emotions towards identity and education as well as their regards towards schools being a safe space, which can ultimately lead to more school absences.
Case Study #2: What do students say about well-being?
One of the critical components of student wellbeing is agency and autonomy, or having a voice in the classroom. In response to empowering students to speak on behalf of themselves, Australia issued a national research project to be conducted, in which students from 18 schools (9 primary and 9 secondary) participated in interviews that revolved around four areas of discussion:
​
-
How students defined well-being​
-
Who in their lives influenced their well-being​
-
What it felt like to be cared for, respected, and valued
-
How the students imagined an ideal school to support their well-being
​
The results (student responses shown on the right) categorized "well-being" into three areas of focus: "being", "having", and "doing". In terms of influence within school contexts, students mentioned teachers that students can trust and establish human connection with. Peers and friends that offer encouragement and support also were mentioned as important relationships in school, further emphasizing the need for establishing a classroom community that supports student well-being. Relationships outside of school mainly included family in regards to providing essential physical and emotional needs.
4
STUDENT RESPONSES
WELL-BEING
Students referenced physical well-being and emotional well-being. “Being safe and being visible” in that students needs are met and they experience satisfaction (the state of being happy, encouraged, hopeful, cared for, wanted, visible)
"being"
WELL-BEING
Students mentioned the importance of having support (confidence and resources), rights (respect and privacy), and social justice. Primary students specifically mentioned having a say in school procedures.
"having"
WELL-BEING
"doing"
Students mainly revolved around the idea of acceptance and making good decisions as the definition of student well-being.
CALL FOR CULTIVATION
"CULTIVATING EMPATHY"
To understand student well-being and the aspects of emotional intelligence, empathy must also be involved. In addition to cultivating meaning, the process of cultivating empathy relates to confronting self-doubt and the trap of “enoughness” because these factors can become roadblocks to empathy. Instead, there is power found in acceptance, which ultimately leads to change and growth in compassion. Rather than trying to control student feelings as a means of controlling their behavior, teachers need to practice the power of acceptance by acknowledging the moment as it is and the influence of our feelings. At the root of empathy, there is meaningful connection. This can be demonstrated not by teachers exclusively attempting to change student feelings or emotions, but rather listening to students firsthand. True empathy is not fixing student behavior or emotional circumstances that unfold in the classroom. True empathy is seeing the student from their perspective and emphasizing acceptance of the moment.
5
Footnotes
Toshalis, E. (2015). “That’s not fair!” In Michael Sadowski (Ed.), Make me!: Understanding and engaging student resistance in school (pp. 149-170). Harvard Education Press.
Toshalis, E. (2015). “You don’t even know me.” In Michael Sadowski (Ed.), Make me!: Understanding and engaging student resistance in school (pp. 203-220). Harvard Education Press.
Campos, D. (2017). Battling the bullying of LGBTQ students. Social Education 81(5), 288-295.
​
Powell, M. A., Graham, A., Fitzgerald, R., Thomas, N., & White, N. E. (2018). Wellbeing in schools: What do students tell us? The Australian Educational Researcher, 45(4), pp. 515-531.
​
Bailey, B. A. (2001). Conscious discipline: 7 basic skills for brain smart classroom management. Loving Guidance, Inc.
1
2
3
4
5