The ManicaPost
Shelton Mwanyisa
Emerging Issues in Education
STUDENTS’ psychological well-being is an often ignored phenomenon of the learning process.
Students under large amounts of stress can become tired, sick, and unable to concentrate or think clearly.
Types of school related stress include school phobia, fear of exams, fear of failure and fear of success.
Welcome to the column, Emerging Issues in Education.
This week we will continue with strategies to prepare for examinations by addressing the role of the school in managing school related types of stress.
What is stress?
Stress can be viewed as a condition in which biological or environmental factors affect the normal functioning of a person.
Others regard stress as the way a person reacts to new or threatening factors in the environments.
In some cases, stress is perceived as positive whilst in most cases stress is considered negative.
Some situations can bring to students positive challenges and excitement while others are very threatening and anxiety-arousing.
It is the threatening events that are worrisome as they are detrimental to the success of the students.
In a way, stress is the body’s way of responding to any kind of demand.
School related stress is the type of stress that students experience as a result of educational demands.
Types of school related stress
As much as education is much appreciated, schools can put pressure on students, resulting in stress.
School phobia is seen in fear of school.
Such students may hate attending school and abscond.
Fear of failure typically puts the student under pressure.
Such students lack confidence and have a low self-esteem.
Fear of success is also a challenge observed in students taking up subjects perceived as challenging by the society.
Such a challenge is threatening to the student.
The fear of exams is probably the most talked about.
Generally, most students have fear of exams, whether they have been adequately prepared or not.
General signs of stress
The signs of stress are what parents and teachers can notice.
The signs and symptoms are not confined to any specific form of school related stress.
Generally, absenteeism and absconding are significant signs of fear of school.
In some cases, aggressive behaviour can be linked to pressure experienced at school.
Headaches, chest pains and diarrhoea are also signs linked to students experiencing school related stress.
It is part of the schools’ roles to manage students’ stress levels.
Management of school related stress
Implementation of rules
Successful stress management involve much more than designing rules and discipline.
The policies must be implemented at all levels of the school.
The rules cover the planning issues, timetables and duties of all members.
Effective teachers are proactive about student behaviour and they involve them in the process of establishing and maintaining rules and routines.
An effective teacher plans and prepares for the organisation of the classroom, with the same care and precision used to design high quality lessons.
Effective teachers envision what is needed to make the classroom run smoothly.
They are more consistent and proactive in classroom management.
Counselling
In order to help the students cope with stress, there is need for teachers to provide counselling.
Counselling as a process of helping the students to cope with psychological challenges is basic in the provision of quality education in schools.
Towards examinations, students experience stress due to fear of exams. Success may be difficult to achieve under stress.
Counselling can be done to groups or to individuals, depending on the nature of the problems experienced by the students.
The teachers can prepare the students for examinations through educational guidance and counselling sessions several times before the examinations.
The students will be able to withstand the pressure that is usually associated with examinations.
Addressing the needs, interests of learners
Stress can also be controlled by attending to the needs and interests of the students whenever possible.
The teachers can create conducive teaching and learning environments that permits the accommodation of all the students in class despite their differences.
An accommodating environment makes students free from worries that threaten their existence and well-being.
In short, the environment has to be democratic in all aspects that affect the learning process.
Aspects that relate to gender equality and equity should also be taken into account when structuring class activities.
Career guidance
It is also equally important for the teachers to provide career guidance long before students make decisions about subject choices.
At adolescence, students go through the storm and stress period.
They are likely to make decisions based on peer pressure.
It therefore is important for the teachers to hire resource persons who can provide career guidance and help the students select subjects according to their performance.
Positive regard
According to Carl Rodgers (1902-1987), students need to be recognised so that they develop their confidence and self-worth.
The students are stressed when they are considered less valuable and assigned tasks that are beyond their capabilities.
Against this background, there is need to cater for individual capabilities when assigning work.
Too challenging work is frustrating while too simple work is boring.
Effective and efficient teachers manage the stress levels of the students by tracking their abilities using record books and assigning work informed by theoretical conclusions of cognitive development.
Furthermore, stress can be controlled by being professional and consistent in the teachers’ discharge of duties.
The application of discipline should follow prescribed means and avoid administration of punishment.
Punishment involves use of aversive stimuli to control behaviour.
Use of punishment is against children’s rights and causes more stress.
There is need for discipline through effective communication with the students.
Dialogue permits freedom of expression and value for human dignity.
Punishment, on the other hand, robs the student of his or her dignity.
