Early childhood education and care, teaching and training play an important role in developing and maintaining the mental crisis resilience of children and young people. The opportunity to discuss matters safely together and to gain reliable information strengthens the trust of children and young people as well as their experience of inclusion and sense of community. In the education and training sector, a lack of crisis resilience may manifest itself as learning and well-being gaps among learners and as a decrease in the well-being of staff.
The girl is sitting alone on the stairs.
Photo: Getty Images / vitranc

Crisis resilience in early childhood education and care, schools and educational institutions is especially needed right now due to the multiple crises in society. At the moment, the Russian attack on Ukraine and the prolonged coronavirus pandemic in particular can be experienced as straining. Growing awareness of the climate crisis and its mitigation also raises concerns.

Safety is a feeling created by everyday routines, predictability and preparedness and, in particular, by the trust in the knowledge that no one will be left alone. The safe everyday life of early childhood education and care, teaching and training with their interactive relationships play a key role in the well-being of children and young people. It is important to guarantee as normal everyday life as possible for children and young people in both education and training as well as in their free time. 

Municipalities must be prepared to ensure that education and training can be organised as fully and equally as possible also in crisis situations.

Crisis resilience

Crisis resilience refers to the ability of individuals and communities to maintain their functional capacity in changing circumstances and their readiness for encountering disruptions. The ability to recover from disruptions and crises is also part of crisis resilience. The concept of resilience is partly used in the same context. In the education and training sector, this means the learning and adaptation capacity of both the entire system and an individual school as well as their ability and willingness to organise their activities in a new way.

Crisis resilience can be examined from three different perspectives: physical, mental and social.

Physical crisis resilience refers to, for example, operating methods related to health security or information on where the nearest civil defence shelters are. Physical crisis resilience also includes taking care of physical strain factors, such as thirst, different illnesses and stress. In early childhood education and care, schools and educational institutions, the persons responsible for physical preparedness and the responsibilities and measures related to it are recorded in crisis plans and other similar preparedness plans. 

Mental crisis resilience is needed in the processing of emotions caused by several concurrent strain factors, such as uncertainty, fear, anxiety and grief. All kinds of emotions are present daily in early childhood education and care, schools and educational institutions. A normal reaction to another’s suffering is empathy, by which a person understands the difficulties of another through reasoning. Sympathy, on the other hand, means taking part in another’s distress and concern and caring for them. Concrete acts, assistance and activities are also means of increasing mental crisis resilience.

Listening to experiences of injustice and unfairness is often strenuous and increases the emotional burden of work. People are sensitive to the distress and concern of another person. That is why it is necessary to take care not only of helping those who have experienced suffering, but also of the mental well-being and coping ability of those who have to support others in difficult situations and share their hard experiences.  

In terms of mental crisis resilience, restricting the following of news and social media is important for both children and adults. Relying on factual information and being critical of conspiracy theories and unnecessary nightmare scenarios is also important. The sharing of information should focus on the essential, and the information provided should be as unambiguous as possible. Good and security-enhancing perspectives that are based on factual information should be highlighted. A trusting attitude and making progress one step at a time are also starting points for mental crisis resilience. 

Social crisis resilience refers to a community’s operating practices that ensure that no one is left alone in difficult situations. When developing the values and operating culture of early childhood education and care, schools and educational institutions, it is also a good idea to consider situations where the conditions suddenly change. Benevolent and caring interaction and the continuance of everyday routines to the extent possible strengthen physical, mental and social crisis resilience in all situations. Interaction structures and practices should in particular be developed to strengthen effortless cooperation and to ensure that every member of the community knows where to get help and support when it is necessary. 

Management is emphasised in times of crisis and strain. It is important that the responsibilities and operating chains are clear and, for example, regarding communications, it is known who communicates about what and how. The support offered by the management and supervisors for other staff is irreplaceable. Support may be related to competence or staff well-being. Support for the management and supervisors must also be ensured so that they have the strength to support others in turn. 
 

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