Covid’s impact on classrooms: more fights, poor communication. Can we fix that? Yes, says Hong Kong NGO Just Feel
- The coronavirus pandemic’s impact in classrooms lingers in Hong Kong, where the effects are felt particularly keenly in the early years of primary school
- An NGO, Just Feel, is aiming to help with that by educating students, teachers and parents in how to communicate compassionately with one another
The lifting of the mask mandate and the return of children to school in Hong Kong have not been enough to alleviate the coronavirus pandemic’s impact in classrooms.
The effects are felt particularly keenly by pupils in the early years of primary school.
“I won’t say we have to catch up the previous two years, because that’s not feasible, but we have to be more compassionate with students, as they may not be as able as students before to resolve conflict and communicate with their peers,” he says.
The challenges are more obvious in the early primary years because older students were able to at least communicate with their peers online.
During his time as a fresh graduate working in a Hong Kong school in 2017, Yang encountered many students struggling with their emotions.
They would often cry unexpectedly, fight with each other or have difficulties concentrating in class.
He and fellow teacher Matthew Kwok decided to introduce these skills to their students and, in 2018, set up Just Feel.
The future of education lies in blending techy tools with very human skills
Ten-year-old Ryson Mak felt lonely during the school closures and missed his classmates. He struggled with lessons conducted over video-conferencing platform Zoom and found it difficult to express his emotions.
The Just Feel programme helped him not only articulate his feelings but support others around him.
“When I have worries, I will share them with my best friend. And when others have feelings, I learned to listen to them slowly instead of talking,” says Ryson, a Primary Five student at Buddhist Chi King Primary School in Kowloon.
Among the 16 teachers at Mak’s school who joined the Just Feel programme was his teacher Ami Yeung. The programme taught teachers communication skills which they used themselves and with their own families, and then shared with their students.
“They find a way to express themselves in their family. It’s good to do in a family and means they argue less.”
Since the pandemic, she has noticed more conflict among students as they struggle with difficult emotions.
“If they don’t know how to talk to each other they might fight. I use the communication skills to help solve the conflict. They talk about their feelings and begin to calm down,” she says.
Kwok emphasises that social and emotional skills are not incidental soft skills that take a back seat to the important business of getting an education. They are an absolute prerequisite for learning, and it is important for parents to recognise this.
“For emotional well-being and to be ready for learning, you need self-awareness and self-management, to be able to calm yourself down. You need social and emotional skills,” says Kwok.
The holistic approach that Just Feel promotes involves schools and families. Parents can provide support by helping their child better express themselves.
Young children may act out because they are struggling to articulate difficult feelings. Rather than punishing the bad behaviour, Yang suggests a more compassionate approach.
“Parents can try asking, ‘Are you feeling unhappy? Are you worried? Are you disappointed?’
Number of Hong Kong students with mental health woes doubles in 4 years
Just Feel promotes a four-step approach to compassionate communication: observe, distinguish the feelings, identify the needs and make a request.
Instead, a compassionate approach would begin with a simple observation: “I notice that you’ve been playing games and not completed your homework.” This is followed by an expression of feelings: “I’m worried that you won’t finish your homework/won’t be able to sleep.”
Then the parent identifies the need: “Because everyone in our family has a proper time to sleep.” And finally, they make a request: “Can you finish your homework and then play the game?”
Kwok says” “If you frame a request in a way that gives the child a choice, it will give them a sense of ownership. If you simply punish the child, it will lead to a more severe problem.”
Just Feel has been named on this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia: Social Impact list. The NGO has already partnered with 20 primary schools.
“I learned many important things about how I can share my feelings with others and manage my emotions. I wish I’d learned that earlier – it would have been helpful to my mental health,” says Kwok.
Covid-19 is over in Hong Kong, but stress and anxiety linger on
Ryson Mak has already put his newly acquired communication skills to good use by helping resolve conflicts both at school and at home with his younger brother.
“This is not just for kids. I can use what I learned when I’m older,” says Ryson.