RG spoke with the head of the psychological service of the educational cluster of Moscow school N58, a psychologist with 30 years of experience and mother of many children, Lyudmila Avdeeva, about how teachers “don’t miss out” on teenagers and how to help children go through one of the most difficult stages of growing up.
Lyudmila Igorevna, what do children and adults come to you with?
Lyudmila Avdeeva: I would highlight two areas of problems. The first is everything that is actually associated with the difficulties of learning at school: overwork, over-responsibility of a child who does not go to bed until twelve to do homework, or, conversely, a drop in educational motivation, refusal to fulfill school requirements. The second is difficulties in communication, which are fraught with conflicts with peers and problems in relationships with teachers. True, there is another, very important circle, but it, as a rule, appears after a while, when trust in the psychologist has already been formed. This is a conversation about relationships within the family, or about some of your inner fears or doubts. In school life you have to experience different emotions, not only positive ones. For the development of personality, both the experience of victories and the experience of losses are important. And when you know that you have your back, that there is a psychologist to whom you can tell about your problems, receive timely and qualified support – this strengthens the child’s potential. After all, parents are objectively very busy. Today we can say that psychological services are becoming an integral element of the culture of quality school education.
Teenage crisis – what is it and why does it happen?
Lyudmila Avdeeva: In short, today the level of complexity of life has increased by an order of magnitude compared to past centuries. And school is a micromodel of the big world where you need to adapt. About 150 years ago there was no trace of a teenage crisis, because social roles and responsibilities were clearly distributed. Everyone knew what awaited him and how he should behave in accordance with his social and personal status. Now this is not the case, everything is confused. There is no transition point from childhood to adulthood. It is very difficult for children to live through this period.
In school life you have to experience different emotions, not only positive ones. Photo: Oleg Ukladov / “Komsomolskaya Pravda”
How and how can parents and teachers help a child in his crisis age?
Lyudmila Avdeeva: First of all, recognize that the child has changed. Respect his boundaries (for example, knock on the door of the child’s room before entering). It is important for teachers and parents to understand that a decline in educational motivation (“slipped into C grades!”) is a natural part of growing up, simply because studying is not at all a biological task at this age. We need to understand this and calm down. Understand: the crisis lasts longer, the more resistance we provide.
In general, in my experience, the “three-thirds” rule works well with teenagers. In a third of cases, give in, in a third, “not notice” the provocation (bad behavior or violation of generally accepted rules), in a third, insist on your own. The general principle for adults here is flexibility.
Basic principles of work of a school psychologist?
Lyudmila Avdeeva: Every child must be visible. The emphasis is on prevention: we work proactively, anticipating the problem, instead of hastily correcting the consequences. Active work with all participants in the educational process: not only children, but also with teachers and parents. And, of course, professionalism and high qualifications.
It is important to me that every child feels important at school. I must be familiar with everyone for whom I am directly responsible, know the context of his life, build trusting communication with his parents in order to provide timely insurance and prevent more serious problems (for example, failure on the Unified State Exam or teenage bullying). It’s the same with kids – if we see that, for example, he often begins to miss and get sick, it is important to find out what is behind this – real health problems or a high level of stress.
By the way, do you go to classes? Or do children often come to you on their own?
Lyudmila Avdeeva: I go regularly, like my colleagues. Here’s a recent example. The teacher asked to observe a girl whose motivation had dropped sharply. I come to class and find that besides her there is another child in the class who drops out of the process altogether. I start to figure it out, I see that he breathes through his mouth and lies down on his desk within 10 minutes after the start of the lesson. And I understand: the reason for the decrease in his performance may be hypoxia. And this means that it is necessary not only to ventilate the classroom, but a particular child needs to be raised during the lesson, asked to wipe the board, sent to drink water, that is, activated in every possible way in order to restore the tone of the cerebral cortex, and therefore increase efficiency. I have to see this, orient the teacher, and get involved myself.
The teacher is the most important person in school, a powerful factor in the child’s academic success, which means psychologists should actively help him. Teachers need to be taught how to deal with difficult cases, on the one hand, and taught how to take care of themselves, on the other. We all know that teachers are always at risk of burnout. Therefore, it is important to teach them techniques of relaxation, switching, and stress relief. And some of them also have a lot of fears about their own incompetence, so at first they may be afraid to ask for help and avoid psychologists. I try to show that turning to a psychologist, on the contrary, means that a person is good in his place, that he knows how to see his problems and work in a team.
According to experts, there are not enough 10 thousand psychologists in Russian schools
Today, online formats of classes and courses are popular. In the case of schoolchildren, is a “virtual” psychologist a working option?
Lyudmila Avdeeva: Now a huge number of psychotherapeutic meetings and consultations are taking place online. And online options can be included in the concept of school psychological services. But I am a “lamp” person, and for me personal contact is more valuable. At the same time, I know of good examples of helping parents through the creation of anonymous chats, for example, in the last year of school before taking the Unified State Exam. There you can discuss painful issues, see that you are not the only one worried, and exchange experiences. When you are in a common field, everything is perceived easier. It is not for nothing that in all cultures it is not customary to experience strong emotions alone – many guests are invited to such events as a wedding or funeral, sharing joy or sorrow with others.
Psychologists also participate in the development of projects for new schools: they say that the psychological health of children is influenced by the school space itself, the functionality and design of the premises. Is that so?
Lyudmila Avdeeva: It is a proven story that the beauty and aesthetics of architecture and color scheme influence psychological comfort. This is what so-called “engineering” psychologists do. What color should you paint stairs and walls to reduce injuries? What should be the ceiling height, color and lighting solutions to increase motivation to study? This is a very important and valuable area of psychology. For example, a lot of pictures, inscriptions or even flowers in the classroom are an additional stress factor for the nervous system, which impairs the performance of students.
A new kindergarten for 350 places on Letnaya Street has now been added to the educational cluster of our school No. 58, and in the new academic year it is planned to open a school for 825 students in the ALIA residential area. Both buildings were built according to individual designs.
The school has spacious corridors, classrooms with high ceilings and warm colored walls. The issue of acoustics is well resolved – this is also very important for comfortable studying. The space of the hall for events is organized in an interesting way – wide steps on which children can sit in comfortable positions, without constraint. Overall it feels spacious and breathes well. This improves mood, which means it improves learning ability.
I even acted a little as an engineering psychologist: I asked to paint the school stairs that lead to the locker room in different colors – for the descent and for the ascent, in order to separate the flows and clearly show the children the trajectory of movement. I also plan to actively participate in the sound design of the space – selecting music for calls or theme weeks.
A psychologist must know the context of each student’s life, communicate with parents in order to prevent serious problems in time – failure on the Unified State Exam or teenage bullying
Is music also an element of psychological support for schoolchildren?
Lyudmila Avdeeva: What a great one! I have had the experience of “voicing” difficult exam periods: children and teachers said that music really helps reduce stress and improve the passing of educational tests. Another aspect that I see as an important task for a psychologist at school is to develop the skill of working in groups. Modern culture encourages autonomy, independence, and separation. Less often than before, children and adults engage in team sports. And I want the need for teamwork to reappear. And so that in the future this will turn into a community of students, graduates who are proud of their belonging to the school and help each other.
Source: rg.ru
