The results of the pioneering survey are here. Now we know how to help our students

Low self-confidence, despondency and anxiety related to academic achievements – these are the feelings that swirl among students and teachers on the eve of the new school year. The challenge for children, the youth and also for adults will be to rebuild relationships, re-integrate, as well as strengthen self-esteem. The return to school is to be facilitated by diagnoses conducted before holidays.

A pioneering venture

Szczecin is the first city in Poland which has decided to run a pilot analysis of the emotional state of Szczecin’s school community.

“Education is a field of everyday life which has been strongly affected by effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The operation of schools in pandemic conditions is a great challenge faced by students as well as teachers,” said Piotr Krzystek, the Mayor of Szczecin.

Therefore, the survey focussed, among others, on the emotions that students face after 15 months of pandemic, how they assess the impact of remote learning and isolation on their mood, as well as how the isolation period has affected their level of learning and their outlook on the future. 

The survey prepared by Profi Competence Europe company and the University of Szczecin covered a total of over 2000 students and over 500 teachers from Szczecin. These are representatives groups whose responses enabled the development of a detailed action plan aimed at helping both students and teachers to return to the stationary work model.

An important objective of the survey

“Conducting the diagnoses allowed us to develop a detailed report, which primarily contains thorough recommendations for headmasters and teachers on how they should work with young people,” said Sylwia Majewska, CEO of Profi Competence Europe company.

According to the responses, young people are currently facing problems such as anxiety, helplessness and lowered mood. Students have found themselves in an uncomfortable situation and a lot of new stressors have appeared in their environment.

In addition, thanks to the survey conducted by the University of Szczecin which focused not only on students from elementary schools it was also possible to survey teachers. During the conducted diagnoses the representatives of this professional group indicated such problems as the lack of direct contact with students, and the related issues with a realistic assessment of knowledge and skills of their students. In addition, there was also stress, despondency, sometimes professional burn-out, as well as considerable anxiety related to students.

How to help the school community?

Students from secondary schools were surveyed with the use of other methods than students from elementary schools. Nonetheless, the diagnostic results are similar in many fields and allow the development of a plan to help the Szczecin’s school community return to the regular learning model.

“On the basis of the conclusions drawn from the conducted survey we have developed a detailed action plan,”  said Lidia Roga, Director of the Education Department of the City of Szczecin. – It includes such projects as activities aimed at empowering teachers, so that they will be able to support their students even better than before. A very important role will also be played by parents, who are the most responsible for empowering their children, among other things. That is why in the upcoming days parents will be given a specially prepared brochure available via the electronic grade book, in which they will find, among others, information on what they should pay attention and where, if necessary, to seek specialist help for their child.

However, there is more. In agreement with headmasters of Szczecin’s schools, the methods and forms of work will also be modified and adjusted to the problems reported by students.

All activities undertaken by the City are aimed at rebuilding the self-esteem of students, helping them to return to normality and fixing relationships not only among the youth but also between students and teachers.