"A lot of 'difficult' students ended up with me, and the pressure was great."
I don't have any majesty in front of my students, and I can't control classroom discipline at all."
The construction of mental health culture is so complicated, I don't have time to do it alone."
Sometimes, the daily life of a psychology teacher in primary and secondary schools looks like a "war", and he often takes care of this and can't take care of that.
As an important force in promoting the mental health of children and adolescents, what is the real working status of primary and secondary school psychology teachers?What do they do and what challenges do they often face?We interviewed 12 primary and secondary school psychology teachers from all over the country to hear what they had to say.
How it was in the first placeWalk upSchool Psychology Teacher Position?
Nearly half of the teachers interviewed were transferred or part-time psychology teachers from other classroom teachers or other professions, and they became psychology teachers because:The situation requires it, and I happen to have a professional background in psychology；On the other hand, it is also out ofInterest in psychology and concern for the mental health of children and adolescents
"By 2017, the fifth year of my work, the school began to pay attention to mental health, and I happened to be a psychology major, so I was transferred to primary school to be a psychology teacher. ”
"When I was studying, I came into contact with a developmental psychology teacher who gave very good lectures, and I started to study a lot of psychology courses on my own from then on, which was one of my (and later became a psychology teacher) ......Because of my personal interest, and the fact that each school may need someone to be in charge of the work, I worked part-time as a psychology teacher. ”
"[In my previous job, I've discovered] that a lot of kids may have a lot of cultures during their school years, including the class atmosphere and interpersonal interactions, and there are big problems ......Working in the school will have a quieter environment, you will spend a little longer with the students, and you will learn more about his system, such as home, school, and a lot of information about theseand then go and (better) help them. ”More than half of the respondents went straight out of school to become a psychology teacher, they saidI have benefited from psychology and hope to use psychology to help others
"I think that psychology is a help to myself, and then I ...... help othersPsychology can bring students a sense of energy and a positive state, and can let them know that there is a way to solve their psychological problemsI think it's great to have a psychology teacher who can help, and there are some basic methods of psychology that can help them. ”
"I'll think of psychology as a thingIt can bring some benefits to others, and more can help me……After work, psychology for many students, although in reality, I think that I may not be able to help (students) as much as parents expect, but I often get from my classmates after counseling, or some other chat processI can see from the feedback from the students that it is very rewarding to do this
Triple Role:What does a psychology teacher do?
According to the information obtained from the interviews, each psychology teacher is responsible for about 1,000 students on average, and the workload can be imagined. At the same time, their work is complex and diverse. We can see the triple role of psychology teachers in primary and secondary schools: "teacher", "counselor" and "consultant".
AsTeachersPsychology teachers should be responsible for the mental health education and teaching of each class, and at the same time, they should also carry out the construction of campus psychological culture. Different teachers have different feelings about this part of the work: some teachers feel a sense of accomplishment in teaching, while others find it a bit difficult to teach.
"At present, there are four teachers in the school, and each teacher teaches psychology ...... to the class in chargeI just focus on the needs of the students and add some structural things to the ...... of the lessonDiscuss with students from all aspectsI'm really happy
"I ...... after I transferred itBasically, I do things alone, and I take all the psychology classes......I've never been used to teaching elementary school studentsAsPsychological counselorThe psychology teacher is responsible for the psychological counseling and counseling affairs of the whole school. It's a job that teachers unanimously enjoy. However, crisis intervention work can also be stressful for teachers.
"There will be three half-days a week in the counseling room, and the number of counseling sessions per week is about 3-4, sometimes it may be a little more concentrated, sometimes it may be a little less ......If it is a more critical situation or a more serious situation, it will be more troublesome to deal with. ”
"I still feel that [crisis intervention] is not very effective, and I see that many students may not be doing well in school and then take a leave of absence and go back. In fact, it is mainly the first step of first aid, follow-up counseling or other things, and I haven't done a lot of work. ”In addition to these two jobs, half of the psychologists interviewed mentioned that they wanted"Deal with class teachers and parents and solve students' problems together". Although most teachers don't explicitly tell about it as a separate part of their work, they do take on the responsibility and devote a lot of time to it. This part of the work corresponds"Consultants".Role. "Consultant" originated from the consultation model, and the main responsibilities are:Work with teachers and parents to address students' psychological and behavioral issues。Different from the one-on-one psychological counseling model, the consultation is more emphasizedStart from the environment and systemto intervene in students' problematic behaviors (to learn more about school counselling, click the link to see School Counselling: How mental health teachers must know how to work).
When it comes to this part of the work, psychology teachers often feel that "too much energy is consumed".
"Sometimes parents come to ...... for helpSome parents will be all soldiers, and after the child has a problem, he has to ask ...... every detail of his relationship with the childWe want to provide a lot of emotional value. ”
Focus on the present:
What are the challenges faced by school psychology teachers?
In these complex and diverse work, psychology teachers often encounter some difficulties and challenges.
As teachers, the most common difficulties and challenges they encounter are:
Classroom discipline is time-consuming, and lessons don't run smoothly
"The students found that the psychology class was very relaxing, the teacher was very gentle with them, and there were games and various activities. Later, the class is chaotic, and the students with poor behavior and habits are immediately visible. It's hard to control the class, and the progress of the class can't be promoted. ”There is a lack of curriculum resources and a long preparation cycle
"When I want to get some better Chinese teaching materials, there are relatively few domestic ** searches, and it is difficult to find suitable materials. Some of the teaching materials are better in content, but in English**, which takes more time to prepare. ”Curriculum standards are uncertain, and there is no guidance and evaluation system
"Maybe the current curriculum doesn't have very clear content standards and guidance, and when you do it yourself, you don't really know whether the course you're doing is suitable or not, or whether it's educational or anti-educational. ”
As counselors, they feel powerless to:
Coping with complex psychological problems of students
"We also learned some knowledge about how to help children with autism and ADHD, but we had less practical experience, especially for younger students. ”Crisis management
"In recent years, I have been exposed to a lot of crises (cases), and although I have some experience in the process, I am still not confident in the results......Sometimes I feel powerless. ”In addition to these two aspects, the teachers also mentioned difficulties such as lack of psychological help channels, limited energy, and lack of clear counseling ethics.
As consultants, they are worried:
Parents ask for help with personal questions
"Sometimes, after dealing with parent-child conflicts, parents ask about personal marital issues, which is a headache. ”The homeroom teacher's solidified understanding of mental health
"Some class teachers already have a very strong subjective cognition, including the cognition of mental health, which is also very immediate, and the perspective of no problems ......Sometimes we give them some advice, and they don't come back after they don't have any effect. ”
Looking to the future:Psychology teachers crave support and training
At the end of the interview, we asked the teachers what they were looking forward to. On the one hand, theyI look forward to being able to improve myself and participate in more professional training, mainly on teaching skills and counseling techniques for children and adolescents. And the improvement of competency as a consultant is hardly mentioned.
"I actually still want to stand on the main front, the classroom. How can some of the content in the classroom be a little more emotional, how can we awaken our own life, and finally realize whether it is our own education or any education, so that the child can find his own life. ”
"The CBT (Cognitive-Behavioral**) training I attended was probably more gear-oriented, and those practical methods were difficult to use in primary and secondary school students......I still lack some theoretical methods of psychological counseling for primary and secondary school students or teenagers, and I want to learn more. ”
On the other hand, they tooWe look forward to receiving more economic, human and policy support from the school, society and relevant departments
"First of all, we must ensure that the treatment of teachers ......There are also more posts, and the current manpower is also very insufficient;There is also the ...... of delineation of workloadThe measurement of work performance should have evaluation standards. ”
"I think we must systematize the curriculum immediately, and the curriculum standard must have this course, there must be a syllabus, there must be teaching materials, or it is a unified ...... by the stateWe can use this textbook as an educational activity for all students. It is also necessary to standardize the part of improving individual counseling and campus counseling. ”
"Isn't it possible to do more mental health popularization, to take the community as a unit, or other good ways to ......?Take the film director school as the radiation guide, and take the lead in driving other schools to carry out some teaching and research activities, or salons. ”After this interview, we really saw that primary and secondary school psychology teachers take on a variety of roles in their work, and while gaining a sense of achievement, they also encounter a variety of challenges and difficulties. As the teachers themselves talked about, in the future, they hope to have a more complete support system, rich and practical training and resources, to help the work and growth of primary and secondary school psychology teachers, and work together to promote the long-term development of mental health education in primary and secondary schools.