Wellbeing in a Pedagogical Context
As the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 caused severe disruptions in the education sector and heavily affected teachers, students, and parents alike, we felt the urgent need to support schools across ASEM. Hence, in 2020 the ASEFClassNet Team launched a school collaboration and invited 3 outstanding educators (Ms Anjali AGGARWAL & Ms Geeta RAJAN from India and Ms Svea KUČINIĆ from Croatia) to coordinate it. This ASEFClassNet 2020 school collaboration focused on the Wellbeing of teachers, students, and parents at the secondary education level and included 4 specific activity strands:
(1) Wellbeing & Mental Health
(2) Parent-Teacher Collaboration
(3) Pedagogical Knowledge & Digital Competences
(4) Intercultural Understanding & Exchange
The objective was to facilitate a peer-to-peer learning and support network that can enable awareness creation and build resilience & knowledge for a conducive teaching & learning environment amidst the current uncertainties. Through inter-cultural collaborations and the opportunity to share experiences as well as innovative practices with an educator community from Asia and Europe, the project also contributed to the development of soft skills, mutual understanding, and a mindset of Global Citizenship among the students.
The collaboration particularly focused on the wellbeing of teachers, students, and parents in a pedagogical context. After the successful completion of the project, it is evident from the participants' feedback that the issue of wellbeing in a teaching and learning context is often neglected. Participants shared during the various collaboration activities how this issue affects them beyond their classroom teaching and learning.
In their feedback participants shared that this school collaboration gave them the opportunity to talk about and become more aware of their wellbeing and the wellbeing of their students. Here are some of the comments from the participants:
“The ASEF School Collaboration gave me more confidence in collaborating with teachers from different countries. It gave me an opportunity that I never thought would happen to me as a (nationality removed) teacher: learning, sharing, being friends with other educators.”
“It was one thing I used to look forward to. It was like a breakthrough. Indeed, a great experience to share feelings and thoughts with like-minded people. Sharing and hearing insights from everyone was very cathartic.”
“This is a fantastic and interesting topic for me. I liked every talk and discussion of mental health and wellbeing and strategies for stress management. I feel like I am given a gift to handle uncomfortable emotions and challenges and now I can support other teachers and students with the knowledge I have developed.”
“During this experience, I have been impressed by the testimonials of some teachers and by the different points of view linked to disparate cultures. At the same time, I have realized we are sharing the same goals and the same worries and difficulties and the desire to improve our professional performance to help our students and as consequence our mental health and wellbeing too.”
The final outcome of this school collaboration will be shared publicly soon. Considering the impact this school collaboration created and the continuous interests of teachers across ASEM, we will continue the school collaboration in 2021. Stay connected to us (www.classnet.asef.org) to learn more about the outcomes and the continuation of this school collaboration’s activities!
Note: These activities have already concluded at the end of December 2020 and if you are interested to find out the activities conducted in this school collaboration, please click the following links:
Activity 1 — Better Together, Parents & Teachers
Activity 2 — Look In, Reach Out: Ensuring Mental Health of Teachers
Activity 3 — TE(A)CH Tips & Tricks
Activity 4 — Cross-Country Education
