By Ben Broadhurst with Jonathan Glazzard
I am currently in my third year of a degree in Primary Education. Prior to coming to university, I did not see myself as intellectually talented. Now in my third year and having completed numerous assignments, I am more confident in my academic ability, and I am finally beginning to see that my hard work will pay off. This is despite some struggles. I have benefitted from the support of my department through my tutorials, teaching sessions and assessment feedback. I can now look forward to seeing what the future has in store.
We conceptualise transitions as a process of adaptation to different contexts and changes in interpersonal relationships. In line with Multiple and Multi-dimensional Transitions (MMT) Theory, we view transitions as multiple and synchronous rather than linear and sequential. In addition, transitions not only impact upon individuals, but also on their families, their friends and others that they are connected to.
My journey has not been easy, and the smooth transitions that I experienced during the first few months of university were rapidly disrupted mid-way through my first year due to the global Covid 19 pandemic. The whole country, and by this point the world, was placed in immediate lockdown. I had to rapidly adapt to new ways of learning and new transitions. University teaching had been completely moved online, and nearly two years later this is still partially the case. Moving to online teaching was one of the most difficult transitions that I have experienced to date. The shift from having face-to-face teaching, where you could sit with your fellow students and enjoy professional dialogue with university tutors, was gone. Whole cohort lectures were moved online. Every part of my life seemingly operated from behind a screen. I found this both physically and mentally challenging. I experienced waves of self-doubt, lack of motivation, and disengagement with my studies. Despite attending all online sessions, I could not engage and contribute in the way that I was used to. In addition, university lecturers were still adapting to this way of learning and finding it equally as difficult as students were.
The days of socialising, eating out, and date night were no longer possible and the drive to get your work completed was no longer there. As a sociable and outgoing person, I found this to be very hard and longed for the day I could go back to how things were. During this time, I also should have been experiencing my first professional practice placement; it was an opportunity to put all that I had learned that year into practice as a primary school teacher. As such, this triggered another set of emotions including the feeling of inadequacy, and as a result, my confidence was dented. I started to think that I was not going to make a good teacher and I was worried about not being able to meet all the outcomes needed to reach qualified teacher status, and more importantly the needs of the children I would be teaching. I was now also struggling to sleep at night; I was unable to shut off from the worries of what was happening around me and the feeling of not being in control of my own future.
My feelings about returning to campus in autumn was equally exciting and daunting. My mental health, by this point, was at an all-time low and I was now navigating a new transition. I experienced a relationship breakdown with my partner. This happened the day before my third year commenced and this set the scene for a few very difficult months. I was trying to navigate being back to face-to-face teaching, but at the same time I was trying to be the person that everyone remembered before lockdown. Although I experienced emotional transitions during this time, I tried to put on a brave face by fighting on.
I contacted my personal tutor and the university wellbeing team. After an initial meeting it was recommended that I attended counselling. I hoped that this would support me to adapt to the transitions that I was experiencing. However, it took seven weeks for me to have my first counselling session and by this point I had started my final professional practice placement. I had a very agonising and difficult seven weeks waiting for my counselling to start. For the first time in my life, I felt my life was falling apart around me and my mental health was in tatters with the added difficulty of transitioning back to education on campus.
The counselling sessions supported me to adapt to the changes that I had experienced. However, universities need to try and do more to support the mental health of their students. Extensive waiting lists and an increase in student cases of mental ill health can place pressure on central wellbeing teams.
Recommendations
1. Designated wellbeing teams for each department or faculty or trained departmental pastoral teams are potential ways of providing more immediate support for students. This will prevent students from feeling that they are being passed on from person to person.
2. Another recommendation would be to set up a student-led support group where confidentially students can come together to talk about their mental health or to listen others. In this way students can support one another. An alternative approach is to set up confidential spaces for students to talk about their mental health where the group is led by a trained wellbeing practitioner. This could operate at departmental or faculty level so that students experience a sense of local connection.
3. Finally, if the Covid-19 pandemic has been able to teach us anything, it is that we as community within education must work cohesively to try and help and provide ongoing support to each other through the good time and the bad. If we can do this successfully, students’ transitions, wellbeing and mental health will see a marked improvement.
You can listen to Ben and Jonathan speaking from their experience here.
Ben Broadhurst is undertaking an Undergraduate- Primary Education with QTS degree at Edge Hill University.
Professor Jonathan Glazzard is Professor of Teacher Education, Head of Primary and Childhood Education at Edge Hill University.
Illustration: Catriona Laird
