Learning problems? How to support the adaptation of girls, boys and adolescents to a new school year

The school year has started. While for some children, as well as parents and caregivers, this is their first time in the system, others feel more experienced. However, the worry never changes for de facto lawyers: will it be a good learning year?

Of course, it is not just about the present: it is also the future of children and adolescents that “is at stake”. And to this cross-cutting concern is added the additional uncertainty left by the pandemic: to what extent could it have affected the training process? It is still too early to say, but since last year, with the return of the face-to-face, the question has been at the center of the observation of education specialists.

“In fact, the vast majority of schools have experienced new challenges related to coexistence and links between peers and with teachers,” explains Tatiana Cisterna, doctor of educational sciences at the Alberto Hurtado University (UAH).

For his part, Luis Rozas, child psychologist at the RedSalud Clinic, argues that after the long period of confinement, not only significant learning gaps have emerged, but also damage to personal and socio-emotional development.

“Many boys and girls had problems with communication, language development and socialization. Other groups, meanwhile, showed low security and self-confidence, with very high levels of anxiety as well as low frustration tolerance,” he says.

Paulina Prado, school psychologist at A-recreo.cl and collaborator of dreamoms.com , comments that a good example of this type of complexities occurred in pre-school education and in the transition from it to school. “Five-year-olds who have usually already entered school have not been able to do so due to the pandemic. Some who were three years old in 2019, and who may have been in kindergarten, went straight into first grade, in 2022. And they found themselves with a scenario that they really did not know how to manage.

Last year, yes, there were no major health restrictions — especially in relation to the face-to-face — which made it possible to deal with these problems, even if these continue to be a major challenge for any the school community. “In 2023, the learning gaps resulting from the pandemic will be more visible. At different levels, but mainly in initial and basic education,” explains Cisternas.

The ability of each girl, boy and teenager to adapt to this school year will depend on many factors which range from the individual – such as personality, age or family environment – to the strategies and “style” of each The establishments. . “We have schools with very structured routines, long hours, excessive homework and little space for games or other formative activities,” says Tatiana Cisternas.

According to the UAH researcher, it is proven that schools that promote competition between peers, and reinforce the fact that a good student is only the one with good grades, generate greater difficulty in adaptation, “especially in older boys and girls”.

On the contrary, the complexities would be reduced in “more flexible” school spaces, with a more complete education where games, physical activity, arts and music occupy a place as important as the learning of Language or Mathematics. .

“Families need to understand that boys, girls and teenagers have very different ways and times of adjusting to and feeling good about school. It’s never good to compare yourself to others, nor to have a fixed expectation, like ‘he hasn’t adapted yet and his colleagues have already done so’,” Cisternas points out.

One of the most recommended measures by specialists is to make a gradual return to the routines associated with the school period. Luis Rozas says this is ideal, as “many come with extended rest, lack of discipline, schedules, routines and are very focused on individual activities such as social media and video games”. For this reason, reintegration can mean a “shock” to them which makes it difficult for them to adapt.

Evidence of these difficulties has already begun to show up at the mental health level, according to Rozas: “We saw that low frustration tolerance, impulse control issues, anxiety and adjustment disorders with mixed emotional symptoms increased”.

For this reason, among others, the role that fathers, mothers and carers play in this adaptation to everyday school life is very relevant. “They are the direct referents of boys or girls, their link between the family world and the one that awaits them there. They are the ones who must moderate this contact, educate and transmit values ​​that will become tools, facilitating learning, integration and, above all, raising the concept of self and the valence of self in those who are taking their first steps in the society”, reflects the child psychologist.

For centuries, grades or grades from the school system have been associated as the greatest metric of learning achieved by students. In fact, they are the primary determinant of whether the grade passes or fails. Tatiana Cisternas, however, maintains that a good grade “does not always mean learning or understanding”.

Indeed, in many schools, “good grades are more about memorizing or retaining information, but not really about learning.” This invites families to focus on monitoring learning, that is to say on “what makes sense for the child of what he is being taught”.

How to know if the girl, the boy or the teenager learns? According to Cisternas, there are four basic measures:

• When you can explain a topic or content in your own words.
• Ask for examples that better explain the subject.
• Observe if he uses what he has learned to solve a problem.
• When the subject leads you to ask yourself new questions.

Cisternas says that, in these cases, the primary responsibility lies with the school. The family, for its part, is essential to sound the alarm, but above all “to contain, reassure and reinforce the safety of children”.

Contrary to the tendency to reinforce with more tasks and more exercises—which the evidence shows doesn’t work—the recommendation is to promote alternative strategies. Which is it? Cisternas says it becomes easier to learn something when:

• It comes down to personal experience.
• It is related to something significant or of affective and emotional importance.
• The subject is approached in order to put into words what is understood.

Cisternas suggests asking genuinely interested boys and girls how they feel at school: when they feel comfortable, loved and accepted, or when they feel uncomfortable, upset or reluctant. “It’s important to do it at any grade level.”

If your daughter or son asks why they should go to school, Cisternas says it’s best to answer in the present, not the future. “Phrases like ‘later, you’ll see how it works for you’ or ‘it’s for your future’ don’t help, let alone ‘it’s your obligation'”, explains the researcher. More effective is to respond by making links between what is taught at school and daily life, by transmitting the pleasure of learning new things, and by reinforcing that at school, in addition, we learn to to make friends.

This may seem paradoxical, but to support adaptation to school it is useful to promote experiences outside of it. “Coming home from school to continue talking or doing things associated with school only increases rejection,” Cisternas says. What is recommended, then, is to provide, at least twice a week, physical, artistic, recreational activities, musical workshops.

“Leisure time is also necessary to reorganize, so that this whole process results in a satisfying experience and not in trauma,” added Luis Rozas.

Rozas says a good way for students to take responsibility and fend for themselves is to give homework, “even if it’s very subtle.” Whether it’s washing the dishes, making the bed or sweeping, worrying about recycling or trying to repair things: all this helps them to be able to meet their obligations and, also, to stimulate their ingenuity.

Maintaining a study and rest schedule, making sure they get enough hours of sleep each night, helps ensure the brain is renewed for what’s to come. Additionally, “lack of good sleep can impair the ability to focus and develop,” says Rozas.

While correcting a poorly done task or unrealized learning is important, Cisternas says the timing of doing it is also important. “It has to be after confinement. When the boy or the girl is drowning in his emotions, this is not the time to teach him to swim”, he illustrates.

Cisternas calls for avoiding rewarding eventual achievement, such as a good grade or mark. Instead, the idea is to reward perseverance, effort, the ability to express your ideas, or other attitudes and actions that we know will help you learn better. “The message we want to send is different: we reward the process and prevent our boys and girls from learning that success in school is synonymous with beating others or having the best mark.”