In the wake of forced isolation with COVID-19 and the rise of smartphone access, the social and mental development of children is a pain point among educators and parents alike.
Being taken away from social settings has increased the anxiety of school children and impacted their ability to adapt.
Nicole Nolan, educator and founder of WiseLearn Education, believes that remedying the struggles children are facing involves implementing emotionally conscious learning.
With a Degree in Psychology and Communications and qualifications in Primary Education, Nicole has been teaching children for nearly 30 years. During her teaching career, Nicole became an advocate for the impact that Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) strategies have on children’s well-being.
After tragically losing her father and husband, Nicole focused on fortifying her mental health, and the health of her children as they navigated the tragedy. This motivated her to begin WiseLearn Education, an organisation that empowers educators and parents to create nurturing school and home environments and stabilising children’s nervous systems.
‘There is an increase in anxiety in children,’ says Nicole Nolan. ‘There are a lot of children in chronic stress, and what happens is they don’t have great friendships, they can’t focus at school, they struggle to be able to make good choices, or be effective creators and use their imagination. It all comes down to a calm nervous system.’
WiseLearn Education consults with educators, schools, families, and carers to begin the process of implementing SEL into the lives of young students.
Social and Emotional Learning involves fostering emotional intelligence and achieving positive goals. For Nicole, this looks like efforts to have 5-minute mindfulness sessions in morning classrooms, and family time in the evening that involves listening, reacting, and acknowledging.
Offering courses backed by neuroscience that supports problem-solving and relaxation, WiseLearn also has workshops for students to explore stress reduction with puppets, and downloadable resources, activities and tools to help on the SEL journey.
‘Those children, the ones who are coming into school now, they were so impacted by covid… they were raised in an era where everybody was really stressed, and they’ve come back with gaps in their learning,’ explains Nicole. ‘We can’t keep schools the same, you have to meet the needs of who these children are today. The world is not the same place.’
WiseLearn is holding a workshop “Empower Your Child’s School Journey” on the 21st of January to highlight SEL and how to foster a love of literacy. Tickets are available.
For more information, visit wiselearn-ed.com.au/wiselearn-education157564
And read the Brain Friends: Relaxation Workshops For Children information sheet.
