Blog Archives

Diary of a Head Teacher During Covid School Re-Opening

1/10/2021

The Guardian Newspaper is publishing a "diary" of Head Teachers as they struggle with closing and re-opening their schools, online learning and their own mental health. ISHN will update this post as new blog posts are added in that Guardian series. ISHN has watched the many excellent efforts from many global organizations as they try to support students, teachers and families. We facilitated a webinar on 26 May 2020 with many UN agencies and organizations sharing their initiatives and guidance documents. We were part of a WHO advisory group which prepared a school checklist. We have been suggesting that education and health systems should have contingency/supply lines plans for mass vaccinations in schools. We are working on a proposal that would support countries in responding to the mental health needs of a especially vulnerable sub-populations of students who are at even greater risk of "fading out" of schools as they become even more isolated. However, when you read the blog posts as part of the Guardian diary of a head teacher, you have to realize how far we are from the reality of schools during this terrible pandemic.Here are some of the posts in that diary:

   - (Mar 29-20) Coronavirus: diary of a headteacher begins.
      "I started by stating that I feel worried, tired, proud and angry..."
      https://t.co/nEt5g2pkxf?amp=1

   - (Apr 24-20) Coronavirus: diary of a headteacher part 2.
   As school closures and lockdown continues headteacher Darren Morgan looks at what is causing educators the most anxiety at this time and the strategies he and his staff are using to cope.
     https://t.co/TVL9ualFVB?amp=1

   - (Nov 29-20) Riding the storm: challenges of leading a school during a pandemic
The latest UK Teacher Wellbeing Index research from Education Support, reveals that an overwhelming 89% of school leaders have reported feeling ‘stressed’ or ‘very stressed’ since schools reopened to all pupils in September.     In addition, 59% school leaders disclosed that they are considering leaving the profession
     https://t.co/vH7YAj1nTf?amp=1

   - (Jan 9-21) 'We heard the army would come in to help with Covid testing. Apparently not'.
     Tired as I am, I feel positive. If we can pull off testing for all staff and pupils (announced by the UK government) , we really can help curb asymptomatic transmission of the virus and it will be great to walk the corridors feeling
      that they’re safe, rather than hoping half-hourly hand sanitiser will somehow save us....There has been a lot of hype about the armed forces being parachuted in to support schools. We ask when they will arrive.
      Apparently, they won’t – they’ll be on a phone line in case we have a question. Helpful, but not quite the mass support we expected.
   https://t.co/soMaWNg6ot?amp=1

"Unexpected" Lessons in School Wellness Programs: Really?

1/7/2021

In 2015, the McConnell Foundation in Canada committed to 5 years of funding for the WellAhead initiative, which sought to improve child and youth mental health by catalyzing efforts to integrate social and emotional wellbeing into K-12 education.The foundation has published a "sunset" report describing some unexpected lessons as well as the impacts and progress made. The report notes that:
   - these programs rarely reach scale across schools, and encounter significant barriers to sustaining their momentum.
   - avoiding the "program trap". When two of the six participating school districts declined funding for another year, we realized that the process had become the exact problem we set out to solve: another one-off initiative sent to the pilot-project graveyard that schools know so well.
   - scaling "up" into the bureaucracies of education and mental health systems is more effective than trying to "scale out" to more schools or school districts. This included embedding wellness into a broader school health programs and creating a national "community of practice"
   - teacher wellness is critical to student wellness; so the education ministry program included a focus on teachers
   - programs must be implemented within a systems-focused plan; so a newly created national coalition will focus on systemic and sustainable approaches
Read more about this Foundation Report and the WellAhead Initiative...
Our Comments:
This project spent considerable time and money on "social labs" and "co-constructing" knowledge and practice. These are are good things. However, the "unexpected" lessons learned should have been expected. A project funded by the Mental Health Commission of Canada was led by an existing Canadian Community of Practice on School Mental Health which produced reports and activities which include these "unexpected" lessons. These include a national consensus statement emphasizing a systems approach, a paper on SMH program sustainability and a research agenda. The necessary paradigm shift to position program implementation within a long-term systems-focused approach has been well-described and documented in research and reports captured in the ISHN statement on School Health Promotion in the 21st Century.

Campbell Review: Systematic reviews on low- and middle-income countries

1/7/2021

This child well-being mega-map in LMICs shows evidence synthesis studies – systematic reviews and evidence and gap maps (EGMs) – that include studies on the effectiveness of interventions to improve child well-being in LMICs published in English. The mega-map provides a visual and interactive display of completed and on-going studies structured around a framework: a matrix of interventions and outcomes primarily based on the strategic plan of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF, 2018). This includes seven intervention categories; early child development, health and nutrition, education, social work and welfare, social protection, environmental health including water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and governance.Of the 333 included studies, there is substantial evidence in traditional areas: health and nutrition (234) is the most commonly studied intervention, followed by early child development (194). Education (83) and social protection (62) are fairly well-represented. However, there is limited evidence synthesis in non-traditional areas: social work & welfare (44), environmental health including WASH (41) and governance (12). The most commonly studied outcomes are health (259) and healthy development (215). Very few studies measured economic impact (42) and risk factor reduction (55) of these interventions.Whilst the evidence base is relatively large, it is unevenly distributed across intervention categories. There is a need for more studies which are explicitly focused on programmes for vulnerable children. There are limited systematic reviews focusing on gender and equity issues in child well-being. Very few studies were identified assessing programme cost of the interventions. It would be useful for global and country partners to work together to achieve consensus on priority areas for evidence synthesis. They should also adopt a coordinated approach to undertaking and updating maps and reviews across priority areas. Read more...
Our Comments: ISHN has been working with FRESH Partners in accumulating and assessing knowledge about low resource countries, which are the approximately 70 poorest countries within LMIC countries. These activities have included a series of webinars, a consensus statement on effective interventions and several summaries and policy briefs on preventing NCDs in LRCs.