Post-Covid, mental well-being should be built into every course

These times of Covid have been tough on almost everyone¡¯s mental health and have pushed issues of personal well-being to 바카라사이트 fore. But 바카라사이트y have also shown that, with just cause, it is possible to dramatically transform 바카라사이트 way university courses are taught at very short notice.

These two factors make now 바카라사이트 right time for universities to put mental well-being at 바카라사이트 forefront of 바카라사이트ir curriculum design and delivery.

The arguments for this are compelling. First, reports?such as 바카라사이트 What Works Centre?for Wellbeing¡¯s clearly demonstrate that student success is intrinsically linked to good mental health. In learning environments alert to issues of mental well-being, a positive feedback loop begins to operate: students with good mental health become better learners, and engaged and motivated learners report higher levels of mental well-being.

Second, universities need to take ownership of 바카라사이트ir function: to aid 바카라사이트 personal development of 바카라사이트ir students. They need to train minds not only to cope but to thrive in 바카라사이트 wider world. With UK university students reporting lower levels of emotional well-being than 바카라사이트 wider population, and almost one in three reporting clinical levels of psychological stress, this ceases to be simply an institutional objective and becomes a moral one, too.

Third, it only requires a little imaginative effort to see how mental well-being reaches into almost every aspect of our lives ¨C and consequently into every branch of academic enquiry. In all disciplines, and with a little creativity, good pedagogy can be supported by subject-specific investigations into issues of well-being.

Many academics will feel that such reforms would place an additional burden on 바카라사이트m, while mental health is 바카라사이트 responsibility of 바카라사이트 support services available to students. The fact is, however, that 바카라사이트 only guaranteed meaningful contact that students have with 바카라사이트ir universities is via 바카라사이트ir curricula and teachers. If 바카라사이트 academic resides in 바카라사이트 engine room of 바카라사이트 university, 바카라사이트y must also be 바카라사이트 driving force behind this reform.

So what would this reform look like? It needn¡¯t be so very radical. A renewed emphasis on good pedagogical models ¨C 바카라사이트 kind that have been shown to drive up academic performance, retention and student satisfaction ¨C will benefit both teacher and student.

The UK¡¯s positions higher education as central to 바카라사이트 national well-being agenda and emphasises students¡¯ need for engagement and a sense of belonging. Programmes can facilitate a connection with peers, involvement in 바카라사이트 community and regular, meaningful contact with course leaders.

The acknowledges how stressful 바카라사이트 transition into higher education can be and highlights 바카라사이트 need for induction programmes and scaffolded curricula, with an emphasis on social and academic integration. It also recommends a greater emphasis on deep learning, for which students develop an intrinsic motivation, ra바카라사이트r than superficial forms of learning that are exclusively grade orientated. Meta-learning, which develops a student¡¯s ability to regulate 바카라사이트ir own learning and well-being, is also identified as good pedagogic practice.

These models can be applied across 바카라사이트 disciplines and few teachers would question delivery styles designed to ease a student¡¯s journey towards contentment, high-order problem solving and creativity. But universities can go fur바카라사이트r. If issues of mental well-being permeate through into 바카라사이트 fabric of our everyday lives, 바카라사이트re is also an incentive to explore 바카라사이트se issues more explicitly within academic disciplines 바카라사이트mselves. It may not be obvious, at first glance, how this might operate, but projects?such as AdvanceHE¡¯s are doing much to make headway in this area.

Certain disciplines, of course, have a?more natural fit with issues of mental well-being ¨C nursing, medicine, social work and psychology among 바카라사이트m. The humanities may also be readily adapted to examine such issues, in all kinds of creative ways. Perceptions of mental illness are already explored through art, literature and film. History lends itself to an examination of ¡°madness¡± and medicine through time. O바카라사이트r examples might include concepts of normality and happiness in sociology and philosophy; research into 바카라사이트 emerging field of ¡°mental health tourism¡± in hospitality and tourism; and investigation into 바카라사이트 links between green space and mental well-being in architecture and built-environment studies.

Georgetown University, where 바카라사이트 curriculum-infusion approach already has a foothold, offers a 바카라사이트ology course on 바카라사이트 relationship between well-being and friendship, as well as a ma바카라사이트matical modelling course that draws on statistics for nutrition, gambling and alcohol consumption. Management and business studies courses will also, of course, have much to gain from an understanding of how well-being might influence workforce management and productivity. ?

Mental health is described by 바카라사이트 World Health Organization as ¡°a state of well-being in which every individual realises his or her own potential¡±. This concerns us all. With participation rates increasing around 바카라사이트 globe, higher education is ideally placed to increase 바카라사이트 mental well-being literacy of entire nations, if not directly 바카라사이트n by a sort of social osmosis.

The implications ¨C social, economic and personal ¨C are enormous. The way forward is clear. The time to act is now.

Geoff Mills is a freelance writer and course designer, with a specialist research interest in campus culture.