8 REASONS WHY A CHILD’S EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING IS VITAL FOR SUCCESSFUL LEARNING Emotional health is crucial for

success.

INTRODUCTION:Our current educational system, as it stands, doesn’t take into account a student’s emotional wellbeing. In fact, very little attention is paid to the fact that a child could be underachieving because they are stressed, anxious, emotionally unhappy or suffering from self-esteem issues. The emotional needs of children are largely ignored, even though, research has strongly emphasised the powerful link between emotional well-being and success in learning.

HERE IS WHY EMOTIONS DO MATTER:

Reason 1

Emotions influence learning:

Research on the brain has shown that the limbic system of the brain is responsible for both emotional responses and memory retention and recall. When a child is stressed or feeling emotionally overwhelmed, their brain’s primary function will be to help sort out their emotional state, making absorbing or recalling information very difficult.

Reason 2

Emotional health is vital for success:

When stress or anxiety sets in, it cripples a child’s ability to absorb, recall or share the information they know. Their knowledge is lost in all the fog of the emotional upheaval.

Emotional issues overwhelm a child’s whole being, leaving no space for effective learning.

REASON 3:Positivity creates success:

Healthy emotions like happiness and self-pride, charges the brain in a way that it helps to promote concentration. This in turn will lead to an increase in productivity.

Positivity also enables student’s to become better problem solvers as they have the resilience to tackle difficult tasks.

Positivity also tends to produce better results as student’s are not intimidated by challenging tasks.

Reason 4

Memories can be altered through emotional upheaval:

It does not matter how effective a teacher is in teaching a lesson, if a student is not in good shape emotionally, their memory function will be reduced. This is because a child who is in an anxious state, uses 100% of their brain function just to perform basic tasks, so that they can get through the day.

Fatigue is also a side effect of emotional turmoil, and this also will have an impact on a child’s memory.

Reason 5

Negativity reduces the ability to finish what you’ve started:

Children who struggle with learning often develop a negative mind-set, because their inability to succeed has battered their self-esteem.

If educators do not monitor their student’s emotional well being, these children will be perceived as being behaviour problems, as they start refusing to work, procrastinate and leave work incomplete. These are sure signs that a child is struggling with their work.

REASON 6

Learning is more meaningful when life, knowledge and emotions are connected:

Learning should not be an isolated activity. A child will be open to the learning experience when he sees that the concepts affect his life in a positive way.

If boredom, despondency, or frustration is experienced a student will not be able to relate to the content and will therefore “tune out”. At this point it is important for teachers to gain an understanding, as to why, a student/s are not learning effectively.

Reason 7

Test anxiety causes poor results:

If a student is stressed or anxious for a test or exam it will impact their result in a negative way, because test anxiety causes the brain to become “foggy”. This foggy state will hinder clear recall of information and the ability to express themselves clearly.

The test then does not become a true reflection of what the child knows and also becomes a counter productive assessment tool.

Reason 8

Emotional wellbeing gives children the perception of success:

If a student is happy and emotionally balanced it will give them an edge over other students who may be more academically minded but are emotionally unhappy.

This is because children who are emotionally healthy do not let challenges get them down, even if the obstacles seem overwhelming. They plod ahead, trying harder, unaffected by their mistakes.

CONCLUSIONWhen we ignore a child’s emotional distress we are directly placing obstacles in front of their ability to learn. Telling a child to get over themselves or cheer up, does not give them the tools they need to improve their emotional well-being.

In this day and age educators need to be aware of their student’s emotional needs and work at putting effective strategies in place, to help these students become more responsive in the classroom.

This will be discussed in my next post

“THE ANXIETY CHILDREN FEEL AT CONSTANTLY BEING TESTED, THEIR FEAR OF FAILURE, PUNISHMENT, AND DISGRACE, SEVERELY REDUCES THEIR ABILITY BOTH TO PERCEIVE AND TO REMEMBER, AND DRIVES THEM AWAY FROM THE MATERIAL BEING STUDIED INTO STRATEGIES FOR FOOLING TEACHERS INTO THINKING THEY KNOW WHAT THEY REALLY DON’T KNOW.” – JOHN HOLT