Child Friendly School

The school is significant personal and social environment in the lives of its students. A child-friendly school ensure every an environment that is physically safe, emotionally, secure and psychologically enabling.
Teachers are the single most important factor in creating an effective and inclusive classroom.
The ability of a school to be and to call it

Democratic Participation

Developing Harmonious partnership relations between families, school and community
Create channels and methods for child participation
Creating the school management system and culture to safeguard teacher and student participation
Generally uplifting the leadership by school leaders
 

Child Friendly Envirnoment In School.

• Child-centered teaching 
• Supportive environment
• Threatening free environment
• Positive relationships
• Respect Individual difference 
• Availability of resources
• Ensures a healthy, hygienic and safe learning environment, with adequate water and sanitation facilities and healthy classrooms, healthy policies and practices (e.g a school free of drugs,corporal punishment,and harassment ) ,and the provision of health services such as nutritional supplementation and counseling. 
• Provide life skills-based health education.
• Promotes both the physical and the psycho-socio-emotional health of teachers and learners.
• Helps to defend and protect all children from  abuse and harm. 
• Provide positive experiences for children.

Relationship in teacher Students Stresses

Help others and become health literate

How to help if you're concerned about another student

It’s easy to doubt your judgment about whether someone needs help, especially if the person you’re worried about denies that anything is wrong. However, don’t fall into the trap of doing nothing out of uncertainty.

Get information and support

• Learn about warning signs and symptoms using reputable sources like the Canadian Mental Health Association website.
• Get outside help: talk to someone about your concern for that person. Seek help from a Wellness Peer, a residence advisor, an instructor, a TA, a doctor, a counsellor, or a crisis line.
• Call 9-1-1 immediately if you're concerned about someone's imminent safety.

Talk to the person you’re concerned about

• Talk to your friend about your concerns and show your support in a non-judgmental way.
• Let the person know you support them, that they are not alone, and that you have had difficulties too. Avoid simplifying the problem by looking through the lens of your own experience.
• Encourage the person to see a health care professional and offer to come to the appointment with them. If they are uncomfortable or unable to communicate the problem, offer to do it with them.
• Communicate that getting help is not weak. Many people will deny that they need help, believing that they should be able to cope on their own, but this is a false and harmful belief; true strength is admitting when you need help.

Improve your knowledge: Become health literate

Thinking critically and taking the time to understand new information are keys to maintaining good health.

Ask questions

Ask questions of your health care professionals, especially if there is something you don’t understand.

Look for reliable sources of information

With so much health information available online, choose sources such as professional associations or government websites that are specific to your health question.

Do your own research

Sometimes it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction. Are plastic water bottles unsafe? Is the HPV vaccine safe and effective? When you have to make these personal choices be sure to research the topic thoroughly so you can evaluate your options and choose what is right for you.

Students Stresses

Techniques to help you relax if you're already feeling stressed or anxious

Small, simple adjustments can make a big difference when it comes to managing stress and anxiety.

• If you’re experiencing exam-related stress or anxiety, remind yourself that the exam period has an end date and it will be over soon.
  
• Get up and stretch or walk around once an hour for five-to-ten minutes. Try to get outside if you can.
  
• Hydrate yourself with water throughout the day to keep your body and mind functioning well.
  
• Eat well to properly fuel your body and brain.
  
• Try a mini meditation. Breathe in deeply, count to five, and exhale slowly. Watch your lower abdomen expand and deflate. Repeat five times.
  
• Engage in positive self-talk to help build self-confidence.
  
• Face your fears head on. Avoiding stressful or social situations can reinforce anxiety - feel the fear and do it anyway.
  
• Don’t try to be perfect: remind yourself that your best is something to be proud of.
  
• Laugh: watch, listen, or read something that makes you laugh out loud.
  
• Take a short break to meet a friend. Have coffee, eat lunch, or go for a walk together.
  
• Get enough quality sleep. Your brain is at its quickest and most adept after seven-to-nine hours of sleep.
  

Learn more about managing stress and anxiety

• Build your self-confidence
  
• Introduction to meditation
  
• Managing Your Time Toolkit from the Learning Commons
  

Manage your time more effectively

Managing your time more effectively can help you get things done and reduce stress.

Do your most difficult work when you have the most energy

Think about the time of day you are most effective and have the most energy. Plan to do your most difficult work during these times.

Know when to stop

Although some students may stay up until 4am studying, it’s not a healthy habit. Your mind is more efficient when you get enough quality sleep, so make sure to schedule enough time for rest.

Use all of your time

Maximize your time by studying between classes, on the bus and in other spare moments. Five minute chunks of reading or studying add up fast.
Discover more time management techniques at the Learning Commons.

Stresses Students

Managing stress

Be proactive about stress and anxiety

When you start feeling stressed or anxious:

• Acknowledge and accept that you are feeling stressed or anxious
• Take a break
• Talk to a friend
• Allow yourself to cry
• Go for a walk or run
• Meditate
• Breathe deeply and allow your natural relaxation response to kick in

"Believing that you are able to manage stress and anxiety is important because your perceptions can have a large impact on your health."

Manage stress and anxiety over the long term

Believing that you are able to manage stress and anxiety is important because your perceptions can have a large impact on your health. Research has shown that “students’ perceived ability to manage stress can reduce their likelihood of becoming depressed”¹.

Students Stresses

Managing stress

Be proactive about stress and anxiety

When you start feeling stressed or anxious:

• Acknowledge and accept that you are feeling stressed or anxious
• Take a break
• Talk to a friend
• Allow yourself to cry
• Go for a walk or run
• Meditate
• Breathe deeply and allow your natural relaxation response to kick in

"Believing that you are able to manage stress and anxiety is important because your perceptions can have a large impact on your health."

Manage stress and anxiety over the long term

Believing that you are able to manage stress and anxiety is important because your perceptions can have a large impact on your health. Research has shown that “students’ perceived ability to manage stress can reduce their likelihood of becoming depressed”¹.

Students Stresses

omparing stress and anxiety

Stress and anxiety: What’s the difference?

Stress

Stress is the body’s reaction to various stimuli, including physical, chemical, emotional, or environmental factors. Stress is a normal part of life and something that everyone experiences.
Acute stress is short-lived and involves the body releasing adrenaline and cortisol, which helps you respond quickly when needed (e.g., when you encounter something dangerous). Chronic stress, however, results in ongoing high levels of stress hormones that can compromise your immune system and cause severe health problems such as depression.
Stress, whether acute or chronic, is not diagnosed as a mental health disorder.

Anxiety

The experience of anxiety is more similar to fear. This may be fear of something specific or fear that doesn’t seem to have a cause. Many people experience anxiety in relation to common stressful events such as exams, and this anxiety can be short-lived. However, when anxiety continues and begins to interfere with ongoing daily functioning it is diagnosed as an anxiety disorder.

Student Stresses

Signs you might be stressed

Sometimes it’s hard to realize that stress is building up because the signs and symptoms have become familiar. Some of the signs and symptoms to watch for include:

Physical

• Change in appetite, stomach aches, nausea
• Shortness of breath
• Sleeping problems
• Headaches
• Rapid heart rate

Emotional

• Anger and anxiety
• Depression
• Difficulty making decisions
• Nervousness

Behavioural

• Increasing use of alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs
• Withdrawing from family and friends
• Arguing with friends or partner
• Avoiding tasks and responsibilities

Try tracking your own personal signs and symptoms of stress. Knowing when you’re experiencing stress will allow you to take action to try and manage your stress before it becomes overwhelming.

student stresses

What’s making us stressed?

Pressure to perform well academically, to manage finances and relationships, and lack of time are just some of the stressors students face.  Stress can be a good thing when it acts as a motivator, helping you to accomplish your goals. Success, in turn, builds confidence in your ability to manage even more stress in your life.
However, too much stress or stress that is not managed effectively can be detrimental to your wellbeing and your ability to focus on achieving your goals.

Ethnicity Teacher Student Relationship

Several themes  emerge in relation to the study of teacher-child relationships among ethnic minority children. first, it is worth noting that virtually all peer-reviewed studies on teacher-child relationships included students who are ethnic minorities in their samples, and many included only ethnic minority students. Such studies have found that high quality teacher-student relationships are important for all children (e.g Murray & Malmgren, 2005). Second, students are more likely to experience positive relationships with teachers who share their ethnicity (Saft & Pianta, 2001).  Although this findings is evident in the research literature , the magnitude of of its effect is very small, suggesting that other factors beside ethnicity are more important in predicting the quality of teacher-child relationships. Third, there is a "folk wisdom"that some children, particularly African, American children, will not respond well to the outwardly warm, nurturing and supportive behaviors typical in classrooms led by white teachers. This idea is often espoused in books and articles, however there is no data to support this assertion.  

Students Stressors

Positive teacher-student relationships can offset some of the normal stressors that students experience as they grow and develop. For example, the transition to middle school is often viewed as stressful time for children; middle school students often show declines in motivation, self esteem and academic performance (feldlaufer et al; 1988). How ever, students who perceive greater support  from their teachers experience less depression and have more growth in self-esteem between the sixth and the eight grades (Reddy, Rhodes, & Mulhall, 2003). Also, students who perceive their teachers as respectful, eager to support their autonomy, focused on setting realistic and individualized expectations for performance, and offering nurturing and constructive feedback are more motivated in school (Wentzel, 1998). More specifically, if a student believes "my teacher trusts me" or my teacher calls on me to give answer"  he or she more likely to be interested in class, more likely to conform to the positive social norms of the classroom and more eager to master the academic materials being taught  (Wentzel, 1998; 2002).

Stress basics

What is stress?

Stress is the body’s reaction to physical, chemical, emotional, or environmental factors. These can range from extreme, life-threatening situations to the simple and everyday challenges of life.
Stress is a force constantly affecting all human beings. It is part of everyday life and is unavoidable, but we can choose how we respond to stress. “How we perceive a stress-provoking event and how we react to it determines its impact on our health”¹.

Building Positive Teacher Student Relationship In Classroom.

When first grade teachers use practices that demonstrate caring toward students and practices that foster interpersonal skills among students, students are less likely to reject one another  ( Donahue et al, 2003). Also, aggressive students who have positive relationships with teachers are more likely to be accepted by peers than aggressive students who lack positive relationships with their teachers ( Hugesly, Cavell et al; 2001). Ultimately, constructive teacher student relationships have an important positive influence on the social skills of difficult as well as typical students ( Zins, Elias, Greenberg, and Weissberg, 2000). Such findings suggests that enhancing individual teacher-student relationships has beneficial and cumulative effects for other aspects of classroom life.
Improving teacher- student relationships in only the first step toward the meeting students' emotional and relational needs. A teacher should also work on producing a caring community of learners. such efforts improve the nature of interactions among the students and promote students ' engagements in school (Hamre & Pianta, 2005; McCombs, 2004; Meece,2003; Meece et al; 2003:
Studies have been conducted to examine the effectiveness of interventions designed to create more caring school and classroom communities , each has resulted in specific recommendations for improving teacher-student relationships as well as peer- relationships. One such intervention is the Child Development Project (CDP). It is focus on fostering caring peer relationships, including students in decision-making , and teaching students to better understand the feelings, needs, and perspectives of others. The goal of (CDP) is to promote positive development among children and build upon the strengths, Students exposed to the intervention feel more positive about school and are more motivated (e.g ; showed more task orientation and greater intrinsic motivation)  than their counterparts not receiving this intervention in elementary school (Solomon, Battistich, Watson, Schapes, and Lewis ,2000). Like wise, CDP appears to have some long- lasting effects. students enrolled in the CDP elementary schools were elementary schools were less antisocial and more prosocial in middle school as well (Battistich et al; 2004). Further, in a district that pressed for the high achievement, CDP was linked to positive effects on achievement outcomes as well as gains in socioemotional skills for more information, visit Developmental Studies Centers Child Development Project.
Another example is the Responsive Classroom (RC) approach. This is a classroom- based intervention  designed to integrate social and academic learning. When RC was examined to determine whether there were links between the use of its approach and the quality of teacher-students relationships, it was found that teachers using more (RC) practices had closer relationships with students in their classrooms (Rimm-Kaufman & Chiu, 2007). Visit Responsive Classroom to learn more.              
  

Measure of teacher-student relationships.

One teacher report instrument, designed for  elementary  school teachers, is the Teacher Student Relationship Scale (STRS);painta,2001). This instrument measures a teacher's perception of conflict, closeness and dependency with a specific child. Another instrument, designed for teachers of middle and high school is the Teacher Student Relationship Inventory (TSRI)Ang, 2005. It measures teacher's satisfaction with their students , the help they perceive they are offering to their students, and their level of conflict with their students.The presence of supportive relationships can be measured in classroom using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (Pianta, Laparo & Hamre 2006). This system measures teachers' sensitivity as well as positive and negative climate in the classroom. Different forms of this instruments can be used for preschools through twelfth grade. Students reports of their relationships with teachers can be assessed in young children with the feelings about school instrument (Valeski & stipek,2001 ) or by having a child draw a picture of him/her self and his/her teacher at school and analyzing the picture for signs of negativity( Harrison , Clarke,& Ungerer, 2007). In elementary school , student can be assessed with the loneliness and social dissatisfaction Questionnaire for the youth children(Cassidy & Asher,1992); in middle school with the Teacher Treatment Inventory (Weinstein & Marshall,1984): and in high school students with an adapted measure of perceived social connection. Another set of validated in another set of validated  instrument designed for teachers and students are the Assessment of Learner-Centered (ALCP) survey.   These surveys, each designed for different age group ( grades K-3,4-8 and 9-12), provide teachers with tools for  self-assessment and reflection  (McCombs, 2004). The emphasis of this work has been to identify discrepancies between teacher and student perception in order to assist teachers as they reflect upon and change their practices (McCombs & Miller, 2006). The ALCP process focuses on student learning and motivational outcomes, as well as the classroom practices that contribute most to maximizing these outcomes.   

How to Create Positive Teacher Student Relationships?

Teacher vary in their ability to create positive teacher-student relationships. Some teachers simply have an easier time to developing positive relationships with students-personality ,feelings towards students, their own relationships histories may all play a role . A few personal characteristics of teachers have been identified as important predictors of positive teacher-student relationships in elementary schools. Research has found that preschool and kindergarten teachers are more likely to develop close relationships with students who share their same ethnic background like wise , it was found that Caucasian pre- service teachers working in their 10-weeks field placement sites perceived African American and Hispanic students as more dependent than the same teachers perceived white students. Asian American and Hispanic pre services teachers perceived African American students as more dependent upon them as compare to Asian American or Hispanic students(Kesner,2000). Pre- service teachers who recall their own upbringing as caring and nurturing were also more likely to experience closeness with the students in their field placement classrooms.(Kerner,2000). Teachers' beliefs and the types of practices that teachers prefer appear to also be important. Kindergarten teachers who use fewer didactic and more age- appropriate, student-centered teaching practices reported less conflictual relationships with their kindergarten students ( Manticopoulous, 2005). Much less known is about the teacher characteristics that contribute to positive teacher-student relationships at the middle and high school  level.   

Risky students

Students characteristics are risk factors for problematic relationships.

1. Boys typically have more conflict and less closeness in their relationships with teachers then girls (Baker,2006;Blankemeyer, flannery & Vazsonyi 2002).
2. Students with more internalizing problems(e.g depression,anxiety) show greater dependency on their teachers than their average counterparts (Henricsson & Rydell,2004), where as students with more  externalizing problems (e.g aggression, problem behaviors) show more conflicts with teachers (Murray & Murray,2004).
3. Students with problematic relationship with family members tent to have poorer quality relationships with their teachers (O'Connor & McCartney, 2006).
4. Students who exhibit more problem behaviors at home and school tend to develop more conflictual  and less close relationships with their teachers (Murray & Greenberg,2001).  
5. Bold preschool students with poorly developed language skills are perceived by their teachers as more conflicts relationships. Shy preschool students with better language skills are perceived by their teachers as more dependent upon them (Rudaill et al ;2006). 
6. For students at risk for problematic teacher student relationships teachers needed to make extra efforts to make offer the social and emotional support likely to help them meet the challenges they face in school.