Teen Education (This article was published in the March 2020 Mentor magazine issue)
The Need to Educate Teens Academically & Socially
Dr. Chetana Keni
Introduction
Schools can be a challenge for teenagers who are still children within but are expected to act like grown-ups. Many may feel under pressure to perform well in exams, maintain a healthy social life, and start making tricky decisions about the rest of their lives. It is normal for teenagers to go through rough patches at school and at home, while they struggle to find their identity and handle independence.
Donning Different Roles
A student often wears many different hats – child, teammate, worker, friend, classmate, etc. Often, these roles are in conflict, and a student must be adept at attending to a variety of factors and assessing priorities. To optimise functioning, it is necessary to find a balance between the various roles one plays.
A school-life balance is essential for optimal academic functioning. Students often prioritise academics at the expense of personal factors, including relationships and exercise. This can lead to a decline in academic performance, as general health and well-being are critical to optimal academic functioning.
Teen Education at Aurinko Academy
A caring school environment with Teen Education can provide an invaluable halfway house between the security of a home and the demands and pressures of the adult world.
At Aurinko Academy, we treat every child from ages 2 to 18 as unique, special and respect their core. We strive to safeguard this core while nurturing them. Right from childhood, children are trained to be self-aware, experience, reflect, ask questions, be open to feedback and seek their solutions. This continuous learning cycle allows them to build these as skills in their toolkit. Aurinko aims to help children create a toolkit for life with several of these skills in various aspects of their life – physical, social, emotional, spiritual and personal.
As teachers and parents, we are on a journey of co-parenting. As we collaborate, co-learn and co-evolve, we provide a learning ecosystem for the children in our care with a lot of love, respect, time, guidance and involvement. We also alternate the amount of responsibility each one of us takes of the children depending on the developmental stages.
When the teenage years dawn, the school becomes an enveloping, comforting, inclusive and loving place for the child. The school head at Aurinko, is their biggest confidante, and that feeling has been built through the years. There is a student coordinator, a counsellor and experienced teachers that are available for any conflicts that may come up – both internal and external to the child. Help is rendered through coaching and mentoring conversations, sometimes even requiring professional counselling, if needed.
Children at Aurinko, are also given a lot of exposure to people, places and experiences. They are encouraged to nurture a passion from childhood. In the teenage years, this passion is guided to connect to a career. A career aspiration is then connected to a sense of purpose. All help, guidance, connect, training, and skilling is given to ensure this journey is fruitful.
Alongside, due to the personal nature of relationships with adults at Aurinko, the child can find guidance with empathy – this is required to wade through the maze of physical, emotional, personal and psychological struggles of adolescence.
With a sense of purpose and a feeling of being valued, the child has a lot more to focus on than the trials and tribulations of being an adolescent! It is a developmental stage, and it is handled accordingly.
An important aspect of this at Aurinko, is the continuous and transparent communication between the school and the parents. Without each other’s support, the child will not be able to have a smooth sailing through one of the most difficult and yet, exciting time of his/her life.
Another vital aspect is peer relationship. With a collaborative ecosystem, at Aurinko, without competition between themselves, the children are always there for each other and issues with peers are minimised. For simpler issues like emotional or something to do with relationships, the student coordinator and counsellor are always at hand.
Aurinko Teenagers Toolkit for Life
The must-haves in this toolkit include:
- Access to good mentors
- Access to good role models
- Access to a support system that spans school and home
- A purpose in life that aligns to a passion
- Access to resources
- Specific and continuous training on skills such as self-motivation, self-discipline, time-management, prioritisation, communication, managing stress, managing distraction, body awareness, accepting self, fitness, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, academic coping strategies, etc.
- An open, stress free, fear free, non opinionated, judgement free ecosystem with peer support.
Tips for Other Schools
Schools can use the following steps to ensure the teens in their care have the help, support and guidance that they need:
- A good rapport between all teachers and children.
- A transparent feedback system between the parents and the school regarding any concerns.
- Regular workshops for children to deal with emotions, body image, time-management, relationships, peer pressure, bullying, sexual health, safety, drugs, handling pressure, etc. Ensure teachers and caregivers attend these workshops.
- Career guidance and counselling so the children are aligned to careers, and hence, they can look at academics with a broader perspective than just passing exams.
- Fully equipped and experienced counselling team.
- Buddy system to alert the officials if they notice anything alarming.
- Frequent checks of “Are u okay?”
Teens are actually fun. They are funloving, love taking risks and try new things, are creative, happy and usually have a great sense of humour. All it takes to enjoy their gifts, is an understanding and open minded adult who accepts them for what they are and is a rock solid support when they need it. Together, as an ecosystem we can provide Teens a fab transition to adulthood!
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