Abstract:

The way schools are currently operating in the post pandemic scenario can not be considered as business as usual. It is not just about coming back and resume work. Over the last two years changes have been happening quickly and had an impact on the emotional wellbeing both of teachers and students. What types of support and guidance are being used to make sure that wellbeing in the current scenarios is prioritised? Have we measured the impact on learning outcomes?

It is necessary to deepen in the complex task of adequately conditioning the educational practice to new requirements and to pay attention to emotional wellbeing and the prevention and detection of emotional disorders of students and teachers. What happened and experienced during part of the school year 19/20 and during the course 20/21 has represented, with little doubt in this regard, a real turning point in the awareness and consideration about the emotional and mental health of all agents and members of the educational community and the impact on learning outcomes.

The vast majority of students and teachers, fortunately, have come out of these times with renewed cognitive and emotional tools, which have probably opened new windows in their capacity to interpret complex situations and the way in which they can be faced and dealt with. Positive experiences and learning outcomes need to be valued and shared.

On the contrary, during the time under review, we have seen many pictures of fears and anxiety. A review of 24 studies on the psychology of quarantine, carried out by researchers at Kings College and published in The Lancet in February 2020 (Brooks, S., Webster, R., Smith, L. Et al (2020), concludes that, even three years after isolation, episodes of post-traumatic stress disorder are reported in the affected population.

Throughout this period of time, all our children and adolescents have been subjected to a pressure that is difficult to measure and, not infrequently, underestimated. There were even times when it seemed that childhood had disappeared from our lives. Incorporated into an online teaching activity in their homes, with the unquestionable support of many parents and the professional and committed work of the teachers on the other side of the lines, it seemed that what we had to do and manage with minors had already been done. Without further reflection. In the months of March and April, voices were often heard claiming, just like that, with very few arguments and no empirical evidence whatsoever, that these were the ones who were adapting best to the dramatic situation. But has been evidence provided about it?
Do we really think that all this has passed like a bad dream or a brief nightmare without consequences?

This talk has the aim to share the latest research, to share practical tools and activities to use in the post pandemic class- and staffroom, both to prevent and to detect risky situations, as well as to present case studies with the aim to share the experience gained over the last 2 years by British Council Spain both in terms of wellbeing and impact on learning outcomes..

Keywords:

Wellbeing, mental health, learning outcomes, new reality, anxiety, practical tools, case studies.