Name of Student: Conor Jennings

Article/Reading: McBride, M. (2017). School stress: how teachers are helping

children cope with anxiety. The Irish Times. March 2017.

1. CONCISE SUMMARY OF READING

In this article from the Irish Times, Michelle McBride writes about the issue that
is becoming ever more popular which is students suffering from anxiety in
schools and explains how educators can help students who suffer from this
mental health issue. She explains how this issue has been increasingly getting
worse over the past number of years and it has been a widespread problem all
over the country. A recent survey complete by the Irish Primary Principals
Network highlighted how this issue is a major issue and more than a quarter of
these schools noticed a spike in anxiety levels in their schools this year. The
symptoms and behaviours associated with anxiety can vary from separation
anxiety, extreme self-consciousness and intense worry. This can worsen and can
lead to depression if not treated efficiently. It is by far the most common
psychological disorder in school-aged children and a report by Barnardos in 2008
stated that one in five students suffer from a mental health issue such as anxiety.
Teachers can often see the disorder easier from an early age and this could be as
simple as a child not being able to go into the classroom in junior infants. In the
senior end of the school, they might have problems with panic attacks. This
hampers their learning and they just cant settle in. Maria Doyle from IPPN
believes the increase in these levels are due to children interacting with social
media at such a young age. This opinion is shared by Maria Kelliher who is a
resource teacher in Mayfield in Cork. Deliberate exclusion on social media can
lead into the next day at school which greatly affects the issue at hand. The
author also feels that the recession has been a massive factor in this issue also.
An analysis of the Growing Up in Ireland study, which has tracked the lives of
almost 20,000 children over the past decade or so, found stress linked to falling
incomes and unemployment damaged many parents and childrens mental

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health. Parents under stress were found to use harsher parenting styles with less
warmth, the study found. Worsened relationships between parents and children
were linked to higher anxiety, conduct problems and lower child happiness.
Professor Richard Layte of Trinity College Dublin explains, For families that were
deeply affected by [the recession], its not over and it wont be over for a very
long time, says Ryan. The impact of that on children of all ages has been
significant. It is really important that this is dealt with early so that it can be
dealt with efficiently. It has been recommended that once a child has been
diagnosed, it is better to treat the parent, so they can heal the child at home and
usually the disorder will disappear after a few weeks.
She explains how there is a lack of training for teachers to deal with these issues
coming from training teacher colleges and this must be addressed. She finishes
the article by giving a list of exercises for teachers to do with their class to
relieve stress, calm breathing and states it brings a much more relaxed
atmosphere to the class. This is something that teachers all over the country
should read.

2. CRITICAL REFLECTION

I think this article is very interesting. Anxiety in school children is

something I have a particular interest in because my younger brother
suffers from this disorder. I agree with the author when she states that
this issue must be dealt with as it was proven by the IPPN survey that this
issue is worsening and numbers suffering from the disorder have peaked
majorly this year. McBride tells us how it is the most common
psychological disorder in children but yet the support network available is
very minimal. Joseph Duffy (2017) who is the CEO of the mental health
support unit Jigsaw, agrees with McBride and tells us that Demand for
mental health supports is greater than ever, with services becoming
increasingly under-resourced and over-stretched. On a personal note, I
can relate to this very strongly as when the anxiety first started to affect
my brother, both the school and my parents tried to get him the
necessary help as soon as possible as recommended by the Your Mental
Health (Yourmentalhealth.ie, 2017) organisation. Unfortunately, nobody
in the school was trained to deal with this disorder and had very little
knowledge on what to do. The only thing that the school could do was
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refer him to the Children and Family Services (CAMS) in Galway. From
here, he was put on a waiting list for months to be seen to and couldnt
attend school.
Professor Richard Layte of Trinity College Dublin (2017) explains how the
sooner the diagnosis of anxiety, the easier it is to cure. By putting a
person on a waiting list for months is obviously going to worsen the
disorder and as McBride (2017) tells us, it can lead to depression. For this
reason, this article really resonates with me and I feel that it is an
excellent way of both giving the teachers and the wider public a greater
knowledge of the disorder and how we can prevent it.
In January 2016, over 80% of principals said they had insufficient skills to
deal with anxiety disorders and had no training at all in some cases
(McBride, 2017). It is for this reason I feel McBrides argument is very
valid that teachers must learn to link in relaxation techniques and
exercises into their classrooms to try and prevent these mental health
issues. I think this article is very important for teachers to read as part of
their professional development. I agree strongly with Jerome Bruners
beliefs on how teachers should be teaching students holistically and not
just the subject topics (McLeod, 2012). There is much more to life than
being knowledgable in subject topics after school life. It is just as
important that you are able to manage your emotions and manage your
stress. From reading this article, there are many examples of relaxation
exercises that the teachers can do with their class to accommodate the
different ages. I think this would be excellent for teachers to be able to do
these with their classes and it would decrease the amount of stress that
the students feel in school which in turn would decrease the mental
health problems we are encountering in children at the moment.
At the moment, the Department of Education are planning to roll out a
programme called FRIENDS for Life which uses techniques such as
cognitive behaviour therapy and teaches the skills required to reduce
anxiety and promote resilience (The National Behaviour Support Service,
2017). This directly relates to teaching practice as there are activities in
the programme that some schools will be advising teachers to use in their
classroom. I feel it is something that I will most definitely try an
incorporate into my first year technical graphics class as an experiment
and see how it works out. If it works well I will try and incorporate it
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futherly with consent from my cooperating teachers.
The only downfall with this article is that McBride never states or explains
what anxiety actually is and how to diagnose it. The fact that 1 in 5
children have it, parents who would be interested in this topic may
dismiss that their children might suffer from mild cases due to not
knowing the symptoms. Public knowledge on this disorder is low at the
moment but it must be addressed.
Overall, I feel this is a very good article. It is well structured and McBride
has her own primary research done on the topic which is interesting. This
article really resonates with me from my past experience and by reading
it, it makes me much happier to see that there are many other families in
the same place. I feel that it is so important that the Irish Government
allocate more money and create more resources and support services for
people who are affected. This article addresses this and hopefully people
can get a better knowledge on the disorder so that they can help their
peers. Mental health is such a big topic these days and it is so important
to keep promoting that its ok to not be ok and I feel articles like this are
great examples of positive advertisement for this. On a personal note, I
hope many other authors follow in McBrides footsteps and continue to
promote mental health.

3. LIST OF REFERENCES

Duffy, J., 2017. Jigsaw. [Online]

Available at: https://www.jigsaw.ie/need-help/looking-after-your-mental-
health/
[Accessed 30 October 2017].
Layte, R., 2017. Recession damages mental health of families, study
shows. Irish Times, 20 October.
Mc Bride, M., 2017. School stress: how teachers are helping children cope
with anxiety. Irish Times, 27 March.
McLeod, S., 2012. Bruner: Simply Psychology. [Online]
Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/bruner.html
[Accessed 30 October 2017].
The National Behaviour Support Service, 2017. NBSS: FRIENDS for Life.
[Online]
Available at: https://www.nbss.ie/interventions-and-
projects/wellbeing/friends-for-life
[Accessed 30 October 2017].
Yourmentalhealth.ie, 2017. Anxiety: Yourmentalhealth.ie. [Online]
Available at: http://www.yourmentalhealth.ie/about-mental-
health/common-problems/mental-health-problems/anxiety/
[Accessed 30 October 2017].

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