Support a student

Pastoral support outside the education system

Although schools have comprehensive systems and staff for caring for pupils, they will often still need further support from outside agencies. There are an increasing number of local and national charities and businesses offering mentoring, pastoral and therapeutic services to schools. This could include training for staff and well as one off or regular input with students. It is in this context that a Christian schools worker may be able to offer their services.

There are a lot of ways you can offer pastoral support in a school. Much will depend on the how much the school welcomes outside agencies, the workers relationship with the school, and of course, your experience and ability in delivering the support. There are a huge number of ways to give input, some involving occasional visits, some where you may be working in the school several days a week or more. Some schools treat long term schools workers as ‘members of staff’ and may even provide offices and other administrative support.

Informal detached youth work

Ad hoc input with students during breaks and lunchtimes can be extremely valuable in picking up issues and directing students onto further support. Some schools will therefore view this kind of work as extremely helpful and a schools worker may be free to ‘roam’ around the school at will chatting to young people. This kind of work can be intimidating if you are not known in the school, so visibility through curriculum input like school assemblies can help a great deal in ‘breaking the ice’.

Individual support/mentoring

Schools may ask you to work with a particular student and provide some additional support to complement what is already being offered to the student through the school. In some instances, this might remain informal: “Keep an eye for so-and-so and make sure they’re doing ok” but it’s also likely to include meeting with the student are pre-arranged times during the school day. Although some schools will not allow a student to leave a lesson for a pastoral appointment, most are flexible about this and you may be able to arrange to meet a student at the same time each week. This kind of work is often simply giving students the opportunity to talk about what’s happening to them and their feelings. In other words, it is not directive counselling - requiring training and qualifications - but a kind of mentoring. Schools workers are often well placed to provide this kind of support because they may seen by the student as a safe and friendly adult, and not a member of the school staff. If the student is having trouble with their behaviour and attitude to the school’s authority, they may be a crucial context where they feel able to talk openly about what is happening to them.

One of the negatives associated with this kind of work is the difficulty in fixing clear aims or objectives. Consequently, this kind of work can tend to drift with no clear end in sight and weekly meetings can become less productive, and even taken for granted by the student. It is often helpful to agree with the school and student a specific period of support, after which they will be a review and a decision will be made together about whether to continue on to a further agreed period.

Schools are also notorious for having few suitable places to meet students in this way. Often offices or even corridors are co-opted into action for the purpose. It’s always important to consider any relevant child protection issues and ensure that you are following the school’s procedure for contact with students: for example, you may find it better to be in a corner of the school library rather than locked away in an obscure and small office with the door closed. There are also issues related to working with student’s of the opposite gender and it’s vital to have a clear policy agreed with the school about this.

Counselling

Although ‘counselling’, ‘mentoring’ and ‘coaching’ are often used an interchangeable terms, technically they have different meanings. There are many different types of counselling, typically humanistic, psychodynamic, cognitive or behavioural, all based on different theories and approaches. Counselling is not normally directive, in the sense that the student is told what they should do: instead the counsellor’s role is to help the student understand their situation and the options open to them.

At present there are no legal minimum qualifications necessary to practise as a counsellor in the UK. However there are a wide range on training courses and accreditation available from evening courses to higher level degrees. The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy is a good place to start investigating if you are interested in finding out more.

Even though unqualified schools workers can therefore theoretically offer ‘counselling’ in a school, you should be wary of applying this term unless you do have some accreditation or recognised qualification. Counsellors may have specific legal duties to their ‘clients’ (the law is still developing in this area) and the best advice is to limit unqualified input to ‘listening’ and ‘supporting’.

Learning support

Schools may ask you to help with the learning support programme, where students receive extra help and support from you in their normal lessons. You may be asked, for example, to support a student whenever they have a maths lessons, to help them with a difficult relationship with a particular teacher, or because they find maths especially challenging. In this case you would sit with the student in the lesson and help them whenever there is a task set. However, you should be aware that schools will have received money within their budget to support particular students and that they are legally obliged to employ staff to fulfill these requirements. This kind of work can help schools, but can also be a way for them to avoid paying for these services, and using the money elsewhere.

Group work

Although most counselling and pastoral support, even in schools, is done one to one with individual students, there are considerable advantages to offering input to groups of students. Often this might take the form of an anger management group or a group for young people who have been bullied. Groups allow input not only from those leading them, but also from a student’s peers. Finding that you are not alone in facing an issue can be a huge encouragement to a young person.

There are a growing number of group programmes that are available for a schools worker to use ‘off the shelf’ which means that, providing you have the skills to lead and manage a group, you may be able to offer a wide range of group programmes to schools. Some of the more commonly requested groups topics include:

• anger management
• conflict resolution skills
• low self esteem
• victims of bullying
• social and friendship skills
• life skills

Therapeutic work

In this guide, we are using ‘therapeutic’ as a term to define more specialised input to a young person with more complex emotional needs. This kind of work may be one to one or in a group, but will always require a more experienced worker. Topics might include:

• self harm
• eating disorders
• adhd
• being in care
• bereavement

The advantages of pastoral work

Pastoral work is a great way to serve a school and its students as a Christian schools worker. Many schools workers are experienced youth workers and helping students deal with emotional and behavioural issues is something they will feel equipped and able to deliver. Schools often benefit from the fact that schools workers are sen as friendly and approachable by young people, and not part of the school ‘system’. A schools workers may therefore be able to strike up a relationship with a student who finds it difficult to relate to teachers or others in authority.

Schools workers also have the advantage of not being as closely tied to the school working day. You may be able to visit students, with the relevant permission, after school or during the evening. If a student is truanting, it may be easier for a schools worker to leave the school site and check on some known ‘hang outs’. This kind of flexibility can be a significant advantage to the school and makes your input even more valuable.