Over recent weeks, there have been a large number of articles about how we return students and staff to school safely. 

Meanwhile, other people talk about pupils who are terrified of returning to school, and scared of adults wearing masks. They discuss concerns over the irreparable emotional damage to children of being separated in playgrounds. 

We could, of course, dismiss these comments as internet histrionics. However, these comments are echoed frequently in conversations with friends and co-workers. 

But your children are going to be fine. In fact, with guidance, your children may become even better human beings precisely because of living through the pandemic.

Successfully navigating trauma and difficulty

It’s been difficult. And it is likely to continue this way for some time. But what happens when we successfully navigate trauma and difficulty? We grow, and we become resilient.

There is no one unifying definition of resilience. But the magazine Psychology Today explains that being resilient is the psychological quality that allows some people to bounce back from life’s hardships and struggles. 

Highly resilient people do not let traumatic events - like global pandemics, or personal failures - overcome them. Instead, they find ways to heal emotionally and continue in their path to achieving their goals. 

Positive adaptation to adversity is essential in becoming successful - both in educational outcomes and throughout life. So, how can we foster resilience in our young people, while not discounting those pupils who are more vulnerable? And how can we use the current pandemic to our advantage, and create a growth narrative?

Nurturing potential

Evolution has given us enormous potential to build resilience, but that potential must be nurtured. Parents and schools have a responsibility to protect the children in their care.

But, in order to allow a child’s resilience to grow, it is important that there is a balance between protecting children and allowing them the experiences, and necessary failures, to enable them to figure things out for themselves. Stepping in and solving problems, offering unrealistic assurances and not allowing for failure will hinder the development of these desirable characteristics.

So, how can we ensure there is a balance?

Our children will be returning to school next week, and there will be a lot of changes for students and staff alike. Resilience should be encouraged from the off.

1. Don’t catastrophise

We need to temper the news and social media students will have consumed for the last six months with a more measured analysis. 

By calmly accommodating the changes to working and hygiene practice, along with social-distancing measures, we can foster composed, practical learning environments, and prevent the changes from overwhelming our students in school.

2. Demonstrate how to regulate emotions

Ann Masten, professor at the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota, explained in a recent podcast that children will learn to regulate their emotions - a critical facet of managing stress - through interacting with adults and seeing how they regulate their own emotions. Modelling behaviour is essential in order for children to develop resilience.

We know that children often experience emotions more deeply than adults, because they have not yet developed the self-regulation skills that adults have. 

3. Allow pupils time to process their emotions

Lockdown has placed a great demand on our emotions. Being cooped up for such a long time may have increased natural anxieties. Returning to the hustle, bustle and uncertainty of the new school year may seem daunting. It is important that we allow young people a forum and, importantly, the time to process these feelings. 

4. Prioritise self-care

Exploring healthy habits and life hacks is a good way to share coping strategies more widely. Who exercised during lockdown? Who got enough sleep? How did you stay in contact with friends? 

I was introduced to the idea of #selfcaresunday during lockdown. This is perhaps more relatable to my students than talk of self-compassion or mindfulness. 

5. Allow students to talk about their failures

Allowing students to share their failures: 20 hours straight gaming, for example, or not doing their school work, or fights with siblings. 

The process of opening up will give our young people the time to process the extreme events we have lived - and are living - through. 

From this, our young people will begin to experience post-traumatic growth, become aware of their success in responding to adversity, and perhaps develop a deeper awareness of the values of life. Carrying these skills forward into their future lives.

6. Acknowledge that resilience doesn’t solve all problems

Such was the turmoil surrounding the awarding of GCSE and A-level grades this year, that our young adults have been forced to face down failure, only to find it replaced with perhaps ambiguous success. 

Those students who have managed to remain positive and optimistic about the future - however uncertain - and continued to focus on their ultimate goals, have demonstrated awesome resilience characteristics, perhaps for the first time in their lives. But remember: just because you are resilient, it doesn’t make things any easier.

We have an ideal opportunity to aid in the development of our children. They have indeed been through a huge load of adversity, high exposure to catastrophic news reporting and come through it. 

Just by walking through the doors of school, students have already demonstrated resilience and success. We have the ideal opportunity to focus on further developing fantastically resilient young men and women as a result of the pandemic. It will all be fine.

Claire Davies is head of computing and IT, and head of digital learning at a school in Stoke-on-Trent