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With SATs, GCSE and A-Level exams fast approaching for many students in the UK, we take a look at the impact of exam stress and look at the importance of developing key skills and coping strategies such as resilience.
In recent years, social media and exam pressure have been linked with contributing to poor mental health of young people. In an article from the Guardian [1], O’Donnell (ex-civil service chief) said:
“It’s clear from what we know that improving kids’ wellbeing is a much better way of improving their lives than improving their scores in these exams."
According to the Mental Health Foundation, 1 in 10 children and young people have a mental health issue [2].
With wellbeing playing an increasingly important role in schools, we dive deeper into how working on self-esteem, resilience and setting goals can help your students set themselves up for success. Not only is it essential to our well-being, but increased resilience is associated with improved learning and academic achievement [3].
Being able to cope with exam stress can help students to be more resilient in the future and equip them with the ability to cope with other stressful events in their lives.
Positive stress can help to develop resilience and coping mechanisms for stressful situations in the future.
In an interview with Yes Futures, a former teacher at an Independent Girls School said:
“The increase in stress and anxiety in young people has grown
significantly over the last ten years. Having opportunities to develop resilience can play a big part in helping young people cope with challenging situations in the future.
In my experience, sport was an excellent way through which students could develop their physical and mental resilience, but there are lots of other vehicles for personal development too.
We should be ensuring students have regular access these in order to ensure they have the necessary tools to cope with whatever challenges they may face in the future.”
Yes Futures top tips below for developing resilience amongst young people:
Share your success with your friends! Encourage and support each other and celebrate each others’ achievements.
Set yourself goals. A great way to track your development and also to see an improvement in an area is to set yourself a goal. Start with small steps and soon you’ll be amazed with how much you’ve achieved!
Find something which relaxes you. Music, meditation, reading, exercise - the list is endless! Make sure once you’ve found this, to put time aside to do it.
Push yourself out of your comfort zone - try something new, speak to a new person, try a new class or even reading something you wouldn’t usually choose to read!
Play your favourite sport. It’s a great way to beat stress and boost your mood!
Try to put a positive spin on everything that happens today. For example, if you didn’t get the mark you wanted on a test, talk to your teacher about it. At least now you’ll know where you went wrong and what to do differently next time!
Reflect on the last time you overcame a challenge. What worked well? How did you feel?
Did we miss anything? Share with us your top tips to boost resilience!
Yes Futures FREE Resources
Download our free teacher resources, character scheme of work, and teachers guide to coaching. They’re available for anyone to use and provide useful tips on how to: build character in your students, establish goal setting as a part of your everyday lesson plans and help students to developing the four Yes Futures talents: communication, confidence, resilience and self-awareness.
Look over our Rising Futures and Finding Futures programmes. Our student-tailored coaching programmes help students to develop skills in four key areas: confidence, communication, resilience and self-awareness. If you’re interested in finding out more about our programmes, just get in touch!
Email sophie@yesfutures.org to find out more about our programmes
References
[1]https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/dec/27/exam-stress-creating-troubled-generation-ex-civil-service-chief-gus-odonnell
[2]https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work
[3]https://www.mind.org.uk/media/436308/Training-resource-Building-resilient-communities-final.pptx
https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/stress/developing-resilience/#.XNrLH45KjIU
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/nov/22/mental-health-disorders-on-rise-among-children-nhs-figures