Covid-19 led to the closure of many companies and organizations because of apparent health and safety concerns. Unfortunately, however, schools were also among the businesses that had to close their doors to ensure that students didn’t contract the novel coronavirus. However, as governments enforced various health and safety policies and promoted the use of personal protective equipment, most educational institutes slowly started to resume operations, allowing students to continue their academic journey. However, the Coronavirus threat is still present, and school leaders must re-imagine from start to end times to fulfill the gaps in knowledge produced by the quarantine. Attention to students’ physical and mental health are also factors that parents expect from educational institutes worldwide School Counseling Crisis and Trauma Master of Science Degree.
While emergencies can occur at any moment, there are a few steps for every health and safety concern that might arise inside the school premises. So, if you’re looking to make your school a safer and healthier place for your students, then read on. Today, we will look at a few ways that allow you to ensure student health and safety while they’re building their careers. If you’re looking for a safe teaching environment or tutor for your children check out the home of Sentutors.
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Hire A School Or Career Counselor
Social distancing due to the coronavirus and other school-related issues such as bullying can have an everlasting effect on students’ mental health. Furthermore, according to the CDC, one out of five children are diagnosed with mental health issues like ADHD. However, if left untreated, students’ mental health can cause various problems in the classroom.
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Hiring a school counselor will be the best course of action if you want your students to receive the best education while improving their mental health in the process. A school counselor, especially one with a School Counseling Crisis and Trauma Master of Science Degree, will help you develop and implement counseling programs that promote mental health, academic, and personal success. Furthermore, these professionals also provide individual support and guidance to students to fulfill their emotional and social needs. So, in the end, hiring one is the best decision you will ever make for your educational institution.
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Be Open To Conversations With Students
A school administrator, teacher, or leader’s job is to provide structure, leadership, and guidance to their students. However, no one knows what to expect during the recent coronavirus pandemic. After all, your previous strategies might not be as effective as they were in the past. However, it would be best to let your students know that you’re open to discussion about anything that they feel like they need to discuss.
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Provide Easy Access To New Health And Safety Policies
Offering students a centralized location where new procedures and policies are easily and quickly available can do wonders for improving health and safety in the school premises. Furthermore, with the help of planners specifically customized for your school, you will ensure staff members and students have access to relevant health and safety information. These include hygiene rules, social distancing policies, handwashing techniques, and other health and safety policies crucial for student safety.
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Discourage And Eliminate Bad Behavior
Student safety is not only about personal hygiene. Instead, it is also about eliminating discrimination, harassment, and bullying from the locker rooms, playgrounds, hallways, and classrooms. Besides the emotional and mental bad behavior has on students, it is also disruptive and dangerous as it interferes with learning and safety. So, it is your duty as a school leader to remain vigilant and eliminate bullying wherever and whenever it occurs. After all, if left unchecked, abusive behavior will be repeated.
However, if you’re afraid to take action for some reason, don’t forget that inaction will result in an unsafe learning environment and endanger your students. You don’t need to put down the offender or overact. Instead, take a more constructive approach to make things safer. That is why it is vital to deal with instances of harassment privately, respect everyone’s feelings, identify the root cause of bad behavior, and handle the situation confidentially.
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Ensure Gender Biases Don’t Affect School Safety
While visibility for harassment and bullying issues is of the utmost importance, it is equally crucial to have a safe and diverse school population. Doing so will help everyone from administrators to teachers to parents to students to know that their school is committed to protecting their students. Other than that, it is also crucial to understand that gender inequalities and stereotypes should not affect your responses to LGBTQ students. So, learn to keep your responses as neutral as possible to ensure that equality is permitted within the school premises.
Improving the safety and security of your school is a never-ending endeavor and a challenging one indeed. In fact, a student health and safety program has numerous components that require great attention to detail. So, whether you want to implement procedures or modify your existing ones, these are steps that you should and can take immediately to provide your students with a safe and healthy learning environment.
