Of course, an increased need to support and mentor students places huge pressure on teachers, who are already challenged with resource constraints and growing pressure to ensure exam results hit heightened expectations across the board.
Adele Abbiss, Online Safety Expert at Smoothwall, discusses the different types of stresses children can face, the role exams play in child wellbeing and how using digital monitoring can help to identify those at risk.
The different types of stress
As children progress in their education, the stresses they face and their responses to these stresses change. Research suggests that there are three types of stress responses that children have: positive, tolerable and toxic.
Positive stress: this type is normal and is considered an essential part of development. This could occur when students manage to overcome an obstacle they believe that they can control and manage.
Tolerable stress: this type of stress is thought to occur over a specific time period and is often the result of a big change in a student’s life. This could include a family break-up, sudden illness or even bullying. If a child is supported through this, these stresses are likely to be alleviated over time.
Toxic stress: this is when a student experiences much stronger and longer stressors without the appropriate support to help them overcome it. This can disrupt development and lead to an increased risk of problems in terms of learning, behaviour, physical and mental health.
The link between exams and stress
Stress is often used as an umbrella term to describe the negative effects of taking exams. Negative effects can include time pressure, exam preparation and workload. Even factors such as the constant worry about not living up to expectations, and the grades they may or may not achieve can send stress levels soaring. Too much of these stresses and not the right support can lead to the development of further problems such as anxiety, anger, irritability and sleeping issues. And crucially, concentration levels and ultimately exam performance.
Children don’t always have the ability to recognise that they are stressed and so often don’t ask for help. This places pressure on teachers, who may be left unaware of a struggling student until it’s too late to reverse the effects on their wellbeing and exam results.
Being able to spot the red flags early on can help schools to provide the necessary support before it’s too late.
Using digital monitoring to identify those at risk
Including digital monitoring as part of a school’s safeguarding scheme helps to identify those students who are feeling the strain, including high performing pupils. Indicators that a student is stressed or has mental health concerns such as depression, self-harm or suicide can be picked up in real time if they have used their keyboard or screen in any way to view, message or type out their feelings – even if the message was never sent or the document was never saved.
Early identification means early intervention. That’s crucial for a child’s wellbeing and crucial for their academic performance.
For students already identified at risk, digital monitoring can evaluate their behaviours and check for progression, ultimately creating a safety-net for schools to spot signals that may otherwise go unnoticed.
For further in-depth information about the role of digital monitoring, how it can support schools to protect students from mental health concerns, and how it can be successfully integrated into your schools existing safeguarding strategy, download our free whitepaper linked below.
