Can we STEER pupils on the road to resilience?

I have always wanted to focus on the idea of resilience rather than purely on anxiety and mental health. This is why I was so interested in attending a course on AS Tracking and the idea that we can monitor pupils mental and emotional wellbeing, pick up on signals, set up sign posts and help pupils before any kind of mental health issue ever actually manifests.


The ideas of what the course is saying is nothing new; it resolves around good pastoral care, pupils working with their tutors and Houseparents and good, clear, SMART action plans. The difference is that it offers early warning signs and the really helpful data is on pupils that often slip through the net until too late - the hyper vigilant pupil. Those pupils that care so much about everything that they overwork their hypocampus part of their brain, leading to burn out and ultimately an increased risk of mental health issues. The largest growth of mental health issues are in affluent teenage girls (those that are hyper vigilant). The same pupils that we put on all the Tours, they are usually the prefects, they are in choir, orchestra, the school play. They are the pupils that we trust the most.


This is not to say that these pupils are on course for a giant metaphorical car crash. Most of these pupils can handle the pressures and do so much because they enjoy it and thrive under pressure. However, if they are not doing it well and their 'front stage' (the part of them that they present on a day to day basis) is not in line with their actual thoughts and emotions (back stage) the AS Tracking data will help tutors to start a conversation and help to 'steer' the pupil if they do start feeling the strain.


This all means that even without a pupil knowing that we have done anything, we have managed a situation, set up clear helpful targets and enabled that pupil to be resilient to the upcoming busy period that they are heading into.


I have no doubt that a good tutor can do all of these things without the need of a computer programme like AS Tracking but the problem comes when a pupil is very good at concealing, they have a brilliant façade that is hard to get behind.


Often in a boarding House, even with the best intentions in the world - the middle group can get less support than is ideal. The strugglers, the big mental health worries can take up a lot of time. With AS tracking, it helps to focus on all the pupils, gives us information about all the pupils and helps the tutors and Houseparents themselves to re-focus on all of the pupils in their House.


In short, I am a fan. I know that all of this help can be done without AS Tracking but with it, it becomes easier.


For more information go to:


http://steer.global/parents


Jonathan Pitt







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