Towards Emotional Resilience: Supporting student learning of emotive and sensitive content
Cite items from this project
Funding
FASSTEST
Project lead(s)
Leigh Downes
Team members
Ruth Wall; Anne Alvaer
Authorship group
- Academic - Central
Project start date
Project end date
Project status
In progress
Institutional priority category
- Students’ Learning Experiences
- Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
- Other
- Employability and Career Progression
Themes
- Qualification-based Academic Support
Subject discipline
- Social Sciences and Global Studies
Project findings and recommendations
Our findings suggest that instead of being discouraged, a wide range of emotional responses to learning materials should be normalised and that emotional resilience skills that students bring to their study should be affirmed and strengthened within learning materials. Increasing our knowledge and understanding of emotional resilience will equip educators with the tools to remove potential barriers to learning and support the emotional aspects of study to maximise engagement, deep learning, and a positive study experience. Key findings included: •Many students expected to study emotive and sensitive topics that they may find challenging. •Whether a topic was experienced as sensitive or not was highly individual and connected to lived experience. •Students experienced a complex interplay of positive and negative emotional responses during their study. •Students used a wide range of emotional resilience skills to identify, manage emotional responses, and engage with sensitive topics. Emotional resilience skills can be practiced and strengthened over time. •Current practices, such as content notes/warnings and guidance, helped some students to identify sensitive topics as well as activate and normalise emotional resilience skills. •The inclusion of sensitive and difficult topics, such as gender-based violence, was linked to feelings of validation and improvements in wellbeing for those with lived experience. •Some students reported a strong preference to learn about sensitive topics at a distance. Benefits of distance learning included having more control over their study environment and more flexibility and freedom to express and process emotional responses.
Keyword(s)
learners' experience; barriers to learning; curriculum; disciplinary pedagogies; distance learning; employability; inclusion; interviews; learner strategies; level 1; reflection; social justice; student experience and perceptions; study skills; emotional resilience; mental health; sensitive topics; student learning; criminology
Project ID
642