The chaos and uncertainty generated by the COVID-19 pandemic are having a profound impact on both students and their families, teachers and school leaders. Educational communities cannot not yield, though, to frustration and anxiety. They must develop coping mechanisms that will help them build the trust and resilience they desperately need to overcome the present hardships and continue to ensure student success. According to the Gallup organisation, this is best achieved by adopting a dual approach:
  • Encourage both students and academic staff to recognize and name the sources of their disquiet; this will help them deal much better with their negative emotions and make them stronger in the long run.
  • Focus on leveraging the educational community’s strengths rather than insist on correcting their weaknesses; this is time-tested path to enduring engagement.
We must see the disruption and adversity we are all going through as an opportunity to build the personal and organisational “muscle” that will see us through and propel us towards a bright, thriving future.

(More in https://www.gallup.com/education/321104/resilient-wellbeing-chaotic-education-world.aspx)