What more can the education sector do to support students post pandemic?

The pandemic has put pressure on young people like never before with the latest figures from the Centre for Mental Health showing that one in six students has a mental health problem (2020) up from one in ten in 2017.

This is a big rise and one that shows the hidden cost of the pandemic on our young people. 

As we start to return to a sort of normality, mental wellbeing and the way that young people learn post pandemic, are issues that schools and colleges need to tackle now. 

It is my belief that the two are interlinked and that schools and colleges can do so much more to support children and young people to cope with the pressures of juggling school life and home life adequately. 

The student to school relationship needs resetting and space given to students to be able to discuss problems and issues easily not only in terms of education but also in terms of mental health support. 

So how can this be done?

Service Design

The first step for educators lies in working to identify areas of need and then spending time planning and arranging what they believe they could do better. If schools and colleges truly want to provide strong support to all their communities – students, teachers and parents – then a clear pathway that sets out how to improve communication is key. 

For me, that path can be mapped out using service design techniques which require strategic thinking, looking at a school or college’s existing capabilities and where they could be improved.  Throughout the process, current apparent needs but also future long-term benefits of hearing, understanding and responding to these needs in diverse ways need bearing in mind.

By identifying what may be lacking in their provision and building on what worked well they can create a road map towards a more holistic provision.

Small steps

Being back in class and relaxing some of the worst of the pandemic restrictions and bubbles is an important step back to normality.  Schools and collegse now need to identify their greatest areas of need and take small steps to get to where they want to be. 

For most, it is an opportunity to step beyond the current systems into a more connected world that is more communicative and uses technology to improve interaction between a variety of different users. 

Technology is a great enabler and if used correctly can transform a classroom or workplace.  This has been proven in the greater level of engagement and for some, successful personal outcomes using Microsoft Teams or Google Classroom as a vehicle for teaching and learning.

However, there has been a lesser focus on comparable solutions for engaging on wellbeing needs, assessing sentiment about situations and providing information for students to self-help. This could be as simple as capturing mood level or indication of fulfilment or engagement via the types of digital capture points we are all familiar with from shopping experiences or even public services.  Machine learning solutions such as Sinequa can help here.  The key factor is though, how is this data brought together, meaningful insight achieved and then appropriate interventions applied.

Building a community

There is often a lot more that educational communities can do to make sure that their communication channels are fit for purpose. It may be that a school or college will want to build on their digital capability to offer new community platforms for engagement, be it to staff, parents, students or stakeholders.  There are many good platforms in this space, but Civilspace and Delib are both great examples. 

Whatever method of engagement is chosen, it needs to be integrated in with any other changes and ways of working. It also needs to be wise to the fact that most of the users will have far more sophisticated methods of communicating outside of school via social media messaging and gaming platforms so it will have to compete with those.

The future of education

Schools and colleges are now at a pivotal point in terms of how they move forward over the next few years.  If they are to truly provide comprehensive support to students and staff, not only for their educational needs but for more structured support for mental health and stress related issues, then they can harness technology in a strategic way to bring about great change. 

It won’t be immediate but the opportunities have never been greater.

Jon Faulkner, Managing Director of 6bythree