Student mental wellbeing in higher education will be supported by academic educators:
- adopting practices and creating learning environments that increase the opportunities for students to pursue their interests and goals, and to experience belonging, relationships, autonomy and competence AND
- redesigning practices and conditions that control or de-motivate students, direct learning to extrinsic rather than intrinsic goals, undermine a sense of belonging, or thwart experiences of close relationships, autonomy and competence.
Constraints and opportunities
Those same conditions – combined with increasing workloads, insecurity and ‘casualisation’ in academic employment – may also undermine the mental wellbeing of academic staff. In this context, it may seem unreasonable to ask university educators to consider adopting strategies to support and enhance student mental wellbeing.
Without doubt, the task of fostering student wellbeing in higher education will benefit from a ‘whole-of-university’, if not sector-wide, approach (outlined in our Framework). Fostering student mental wellbeing will also benefit from collaborative partnerships between student groups, professional staff, university administrators and mental health experts and service providers.
Why a focus on academic educators?
Educators’ distinct role
Principles for enhancing student mental wellbeing
through learning and teaching
A teaching and learning environment designed to support student mental wellbeing aims to:
- Highlight the social value of discipline practitioners’ knowledge and skills
- Support students to develop learning goals in line with their intrinsic values and emerging interests and capabilities
- Demonstrate that you value student learning and understand their perspectives
- Know your students‘ diverse needs and interests
- Value diversity and practice social inclusion
- Induct students into your discipline’s values and professional standards
- Facilitate student-faculty and peer social interactions
- Foster collaborative (not competitive) learning
- Express interest in and care and concern for others
- Justify required tasks and knowledge, and teaching and assessment methods
- Within the constraints of the curriculum, give students choice and ensure variety in learning activities and assessment tasks
- Support students to make informed choices aligned with their interests, values or goals
- Use informational (rather than controlling) language
- Ensure an appropriate level of challenge and support at each program level
- Provide meaningful feedback on student learning and performance
Autonomous Motivations
Autonomous motivation is also undermined when we feel that we are not capable of doing what we would like to do, or that our actions do not have any effect. Such beliefs can lead to ‘amotivation’ – or a lack of motivation to act intentionally and purposefully. This is another negative psychological state, as amotivated people simple ‘go through the motions’ without a sense of purpose or meaning.
- How does your faculty/school assist students to identify their interests, strengths and preferences and to match those with study and career options?
- How are students’ voices, perspectives and experiences represented in program decision-making?
- What does your faculty /school do to include all students and value students’ diverse contributions and achievements?
- In what ways are students explicitly introduced to the culture and values of the discipline and to its professional networks and organisations?
- What are the strategies to create small group cohorts, sections or divisions of students for scheduled academic and social activities?
- How is it made clear to students which faculty members are available to discuss their concerns, questions or difficulties?
- How well does program documentation provided to students explain why certain tasks and knowledge are required and why particular teaching and assessment methods are used?
- To what extent is there flexibility within the program for students to distribute workloads or determine for themselves when and how to satisfy certain requirements?
- In what ways does your faculty reduce barriers to individual and student-led initiatives?
- Are students provided with clear information about the competencies to be developed in the program and how those competencies are assessed?
- How does your faculty evaluate how well the program affords appropriate challenge and/or support for students from diverse educational and social backgrounds?
- Do students feel they are provided with meaningful feedback on their learning and performance?