The key to unlocking student engagement and success may have as much to do with how faculty curate a successful social-emotional learning environment as their ability to instruct, says Karen G. Foley, president and CEO of JPA Chicago, a mental health nonprofit, on “The University Business Podcast.”
However, before faculty can cultivate deeper connections with their students, they must first help themselves. “We oftentimes don’t think much about training with adults on social-emotional development. We figure we’re cooked, but we’re not done growing.”
Over the past decade, JPA has expanded its assistance to the classroom by pairing teachers and faculty with mental health consultants through the Connect to Kids initiative, which has expanded into a pilot program with National Louis University.
Six in 10 higher ed faculty and 48% of K12 teachers have reportedly grappled with mental health in the past two years. “There are all these issues that are piling on educators at all levels and they’re all looking for some help and some relief,” Foley says.
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Guided reflection, which can help uncover an instructor’s biases, triggers and other underlying issues, is key to faculty development and growth. By understanding oneself and strengthening one’s “internal capacities,” instructors can bring a more complete version of themselves to class—and better address students’ struggles, Foley says. “They bring in everything from home [to the classroom], just as the children do.”
One issue Foley and Jamal Scott, vice president for undergraduate studies at National Louis University, want to better understand is how to strengthen persistence rates among its first-generation minority students, who are struggling more to recover from pandemic-era learning loss than their peers. “We shouldn’t be surprised that kids are struggling to figure it out especially when they might not have had extra support from their family.”
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