Author: Anoushka Thakkar

Cues to ensure and assure a stress-free academic environment for students.

School education is a very important part of an individual’s life and is also a turning point in their academic life. At this stage, the academic performance of a student plays a crucial role in deciding the next stage of their education, which in turn shapes their career. An excess of academic stress during this stage can result in adverse effects that are far-reaching and prolonged.

In today’s highly competitive world, students face various academic problems including exam stress, disinterest in attending classes and the inability to understand a subject. Academic stress involves mental distress regarding anticipated academic challenges or failure or even the fear of the possibility of academic failure. Academic stressors show themselves in many aspects of the students’ environment: at school, home, in their peer relations and even in their neighbourhood.

Excessive levels of academic stress can result in an increased prevalence of psychological and physical problems like depression, anxiety, nervousness and stress-related disorders, which in turn can affect their academic results. Anxiety as a disorder is seen in about 8% of adolescents and children worldwide. Anxiety and stress have a substantial negative effect on their social, emotional and academic success. Depression is becoming the most common mental health problem college students suffer these days. It is also a reflection of an individual’s academic frustration, academic conflict, academic anxiety and academic pressure. The four components of academic stress usually identifiable in a student are academic frustration, academic conflicts, academic anxieties and academic pressures.

According to most high school students, their greatest academic stressors include tests, grades, homework, academic and achievement expectations and parental pressure. School-related stresses include inadequate instructional methods, teacher-student relationships, heavy academic workload, poor physical classroom environments, inability to balance one’s leisure time with school, and disorganization surrounding academic assignments and schedules. Additional sources consist of a struggle to meet academic standards, worries about time management and concerns over grades and scores. Students are thus, seen to be affected by the negative causes of academic stress.

The mental health of students, especially in terms of academic stress and its impact, has become a serious issue among school and policymakers because of the increasing incidence of suicides among students across the globe. The Lancet Report states that India has the world’s highest suicide rates among the youth. Parental pressure for better academic performance is found to be mostly responsible for academic stress. Due to the constant pushing of the student by the parents in order to perform better in both academics and extra-curricular activities, some children develop deep-rooted nervous disorders during their childhood.

Academic and exam stress is found to be positively correlated with parental pressure and psychiatric problems. It is important to remember that the mental constitution or coping capacities vary from one child to another. Therefore, children with poor coping capacities become more prone to anxiety, depression and fear of academic failure and this shows us that one should not compare one student with another.

Looking at these high levels of academic stress in students which can also lead to psychological disorders, there is an urgent need to develop suitable interventions and solutions to reduce this level of stress and psychiatric morbidity.

Here are some ways for students to manage and overcome academic stress:

1. Always have something to look forward to every day and it doesn’t always have to be something big. This helps to have a reason to anticipate the next day and thus cope with academic stress better.

2. Studies have shown that a regular exercise routine often decreases symptoms of depression and stress. So exercise and sports, YES.

3. Create a proper schedule that will help you manage your academics and other activities in a more efficient manner.

4. Understand your academic capabilities, what is expected of you and try not to have unreasonable expectations.

5. Surround yourself with positive people, ALWAYS.

Feature Image Credit: Jason Rosewell on Unsplash

Anoushka Thakkar is a Research Associate (Mental Health) at One Future Collective.

Resources:

Beilock, Sian. “Back to School: Dealing with Academic Stress.” Monitor on Psychology, American Psychological Association, Sept. 2011, www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2011/09/academic-stress.aspx.

Bedewy, Dalia, and Adel Gabriel. “Examining Perceptions of Academic Stress and Its Sources among University Students: The Perception of Academic Stress Scale.” Advances in Pediatrics., U.S. National Library of Medicine, July 2015, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5193280/.

synergies.lib.uoguelph.ca/index.php/ajote/article/view/2762/3253.

Sorbara, Cathy. “How PhDs Can Leave Academic Stress Behind Forever And Transition Into Industry.” Cheeky Scientist®, 29 Mar. 2017, cheekyscientist.com/9-ways-to-manage-and-overcome-academic-stress/.

Nurturing and sustaining a healthy future.

The youth of today spend more time in schools than they do anywhere else except their homes. This makes the school one of the best places for both educators and students to become increasingly aware of mental health problems and illnesses. The mission of school mental health programmes is to promote healthy social, emotional and behavioural development of the students. Health concerns must be addressed in schools itself if the students are to function satisfactorily and if they are to succeed at school.

It is during childhood and adolescence that students have a large concentration of mental health issues. Giving children access to mental health resources early on in their phase of education can play a key role in mitigating negative consequences later in life. Mental health problems in students might lead to negative outcomes. Some of these include school dropouts, difficulty in learning, behavioural difficulties, school failures and difficulties in performance.

A variety of psychosocial and health problems affect learning and a child’s performance in profound ways. Because of this, school policymakers are trying to assist teachers in dealing with such problems. Prominent examples of this are seen in the counselling, psychological and social service programs that schools provide. These programmes have been developed for purposes of early intervention, crisis intervention and prevention, treatment and also to promote positive social and emotional development in a student.

School mental health programmes are very effective because interventions are sensitive to students’ and their family culture, there is an easy access to mental health services in communities where services are scarce, it removes the stigma from mental health services, having these programmes on-site allows teachers to spend more time teaching with fewer distractions from class work.

There is a need for policies and plans that recognise the significance of the integration of mental health into educational institutions, development and implementation of mental health curriculums and the training of teachers. It is important to have mental health programmes in school because it keeps children from affecting their emotional, academic or physical development. It can prevent long-term problems and also improves academic performance and personal relationships with family and friends.

Enhancing mental health in schools in comprehensive ways is not easy. For this to successfully happen, schools should address the barriers that prevail in learning and thus promote healthy development. Once this is done, it is more potential that mental health in schools will be understood as essential to addressing barriers in learning and not as an agenda separate from a school’s instructional mission.

Being a teacher is not easy, especially in today’s rapidly changing world. Mental disorders in young people are now being increasingly recognised and educators are being asked to address those needs in the classroom and beyond. Understanding what these issues are and the many different avenues available to effectively deal with them is an important challenge in today’s educational environment.

In sum, advancing mental health in schools is about much more than expanding services and creating full-service schools. It is about establishing comprehensive and multifaceted approaches which help ensure that schools are caring and supportive places that maximise learning. It is about the fostering and strengthening of the well-being of students, families, schools, and neighbourhoods.

Feature Image Credit: Providence Doucet on Unsplash

Anoushka Thakkar is a Research Associate (Mental Health) at One Future Collective.