Communication online is stilted and awkward. Where a minor disagreement in the past would be fleeting. Now 'Go kill yourself' is the go to insult. They screen shot it and it hurts deeply.
The verbal insults and out right bullying are prolific.
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The 'behaviour crisis'
I too have seen a post COVID deterioration in behaviour in schools (particularly secondary).
My thoughts and some strategies/mindsets I have found useful...
*Trigger warning, ref to suicide.
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Belonging
Young people feel more need to belong with their peers than the adults interact with them.
Social media has made this 'belonging' more urgent and more complex than ever before.
Snapchat streaks and totals are a measure of someone's popularity. Low score=low status.
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Young people are on their phones into the night. Many of the young people past midnight. Their curious minds take them into dangerous worlds. They crave connection but they get confusion and loneliness.
They are permanently tired and overstimulated.
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This online world is the context to our young people's day. We can't see it but it's the elephant in the room.
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Boundaries
This is often construed as a negative term as it can be seen as control, taking away agency. People respond to it in a very emotional way but in fact we all crave and need boundaries. We need to reframe the term rather than become polarised in debate...
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Boundaries as a collective respect...
Young people accountable to the whole school (including 'the tribe') rather than a perceived authority is, in my experience, is far more effective.
Great explicit teaching around boundaries is all reaching and helps to reframe.
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Oracy
If the only time I have a voice is with my peers. It is that voice which defines me.
A voice in lessons which is heard and valued enables me to grow a strong identity as a curious learner.
This positively counteracts the warped identity I may be creating online.
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They don't like me...
The number one reason young people give me for challenging behaviour. They take challenge as outright rejection. Talking about what the teacher is trying to achieve for all supports a shift away from the personal.
A, 'I do like you' goes a million miles too.
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My story
The lives of the yp whom I work with are often very grown up, challenging and sometimes tragic.
They crave being seen, someone taking an interest in who they are.
COVID catch-up has stolen much of the pastoral time and students have less time than ever to be them.
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Giving time back to connection pays dividends. This can be through more Oracy rich sessions and/or time in the week where I am 'me first'.
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Male mental health
Boys particularly are struggling more than ever before. This is worldwide. A rebellion to self empower and regain a sense of positive identity is tangible. It is evident in Andrew Tate's worldwide following and it is evident in boys behaviour.
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We need to support boys/young men to navigate the complexities of identity and deal with the damaging rhetoric they are turning to with confidence.
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I recently spoke to a class of year 11's about mental health. 100% of the boys had struggled with it. When I asked how many had spoken about their struggles, the answer was 0. Zero.
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I believe that COVID recovery is a very complicated balancing act. We need to be persistently ambitious for our learners academic outcomes, whilst also remembering we are human first, staff and pupils alike.
🙏🏽
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🧵The new world- a curriculum response.
Our young people live in a world we can't see. This world has few rules, no agreed social codes and breeds a perception of self and of others which is based on tenuous and often false assumptions.
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