The document discusses curriculum strategies to promote students' mental health and well-being. It identifies several factors that support or pose risks to students' mental health in the learning environment. It then outlines various strategies that can be incorporated into curriculum to foster students' mental health, including framing learning in terms of progress not failure, providing early and meaningful feedback, developing a sense of belonging through collaboration, ensuring cultural inclusiveness and relevance, and supporting the development of competence and professional identity. The discussion emphasizes understanding students' individual challenges and supporting staff confidence in promoting mental health through the curriculum.

1. Deakin University CRICOS Provider Code: 00113B
Curriculum strategies that
promote mental health
Mental health seminar
Deakin University
4 August, 2020
Susie Macfarlane, SFHEA
Senior Lecturer
HealthPod Manager
Deakin Learning Futures

2. Deakin University CRICOS Provider Code: 00113B
Curriculum strategies that
promote students’ mental
health and well being

3. What factors in the learning environment support
students’ mental health?
Considerations
What factors in the learning environment are risks to
students’ mental health?
What matters to your students?
• Finances
• Separation from loved ones and isolation, adapting to new culture
• not passing their course
• Mental health issues
Balancing self care
• Ensuring teaching approaches that are sustainable, rewarding, authentic, connected to
and working with others

4. What challenges do our students face?
Learning itself involves challenges:
• grappling with uncomfortable and alien ideas
• questioning of accepted attitudes, beliefs and behaviours
• feedback that may be painful or challenge self perception
• poor teaching or confusing teaching materials
• hard work and sustained effort over a very long period of time
Walker, C, Gleaves, A, Grey, J 2006 Can students within higher education learn to be resilient
and, educationally speaking, does it matter? Educational Studies, 32(3): 251-264

5. Risk factors to mental health
1. Academic under-preparedness
2. Financial strain
(Bibby, 2002)

6. Has an enormous impact on students
Most students did not seek assistance from university
So we need to build in to curriculum for all students
Impact of failure
Ajjawi, R, Boud, D, Zacharias, N, Dracup, M, Bennett, S (2019) How do students adapt in response to
academic failure? Student success, 10(3)

7. Inappropriate or disruptive behaviour
Aggression or disrespect
Appearing confused and lethargic
Unable to concentrate or participate in class
Emotion, tears, overreaction
Withdrawal, avoiding eye contact and being unable to speak
Signs of mental health difficulties in our
students
http://unistudentwellbeing.edu.au/

8. I can progress and succeed
I belong, am included and connected
Learning is relevant and meaningful to me
Curriculum cultures and conditions that support
students’ mental health and well-being

9. 1. Frame learners as developing, frame achievement in terms of
progress
2. Opportunities to fail, failure seen as learning opportunity
3. Academic expectations and standards are made clear and
students are supported to achieve
4. Students undertake goal setting to develop self determination,
competence and therefore resilience
1. Progress and success

10. Assessment
1. Early low stakes assessment
2. Assessments that have similar elements that build
3. Repeated assessments with the first one worth fewer marks
4. Move away from marks to a focus on students development
5. Success defined by and meaningful to students

11. Inadequate or simplistic feedback reduced resilience
Clear, empathic communication fostered resilience
Feedback
1. Early feedback reduces stress, increases motivation
2. Balanced between gaps and achievement – strengths based
approaches
3. Sufficient time to integrate knowledge
4. Authentic, meaningful
5. Dialogic not static, students as active participants in evaluating
their own progress, and generating and using feedback

12. Develop relationships and sense of belonging – opportunities and
encouragement to connect
Collaborating with others (Holdsworth et al, 2018)
• Cooperative learning better than competition
• Tasks where students pooled resources and trust others’
abilities (Buchs et al, 2004)
This needs to be supported by explicit teaching of teamwork, collaboration and project
management skills (clear roles, accountability, reason to
2. Belonging / connection

13. Collaboration needs to be supported by
• Explicit teaching of teamwork, collaboration and project
management skills
• Clear complementary roles, authentic reason to contribute
• Documenting progress and accountability
• A teamwork approach to problem-solving delays and issues
Effective teamwork

14. Students mental health is fostered in cultures
of learning that are:
1. Supportive and respectful
2. Teachers are positive and hold high expectations
3. Inclusive – curriculum materials represent the
student, and learning experiences provide the
opportunity to contribute and participate
4. Universal design for learning – recognising all may
experience mental health challenges at some time
Inclusive

15. Students’ mental health is fostered when
1. Choice in topics, tasks and methods (within constraints)
2. Purpose is clear, not framed as compliance but in
terms of how it will benefit students.
3. Work has impact - real project, problem or question
3. Learning is meaningful and relevant

16. Students develop great confidence and self efficacy as
they approach their professional goals with competence:
1. their capabilities in problem solving, critical thinking
and systemic thinking in discipline-relevant problems
2. sense of what they can do.
3. a growing confidence and sense of professional
capabilities
4. an emerging professional identity
Competence -> Professional identity

17. Deakin University CRICOS Provider Code: 00113B
http://unistudentwellbeing.edu.au/

18. Deakin University CRICOS Provider Code: 00113B

19. Deakin University CRICOS Provider Code: 00113B
Self determination theory

20. Students and cohorts and challenges vary
How do we get a sense of what our students dealing with?
- Anonymous check-ins using Polling tools such as Mentimeter,
Padlet
- Incorporating students’ individual reflection on challenges in
formative and summative assessment tasks
- Asking student teams to acknowledge the challenges they are
facing in completing their students
Finally… understanding our students

21. Deakin University CRICOS Provider Code: 00113B
Discussion
What would help your staff
feel more confident to support
student’s mental health in the
Curriculum?
Where is your course
team in understanding the
importance of our
students’ mental health?
What support can the
Faculty provide?

22. Deakin University CRICOS Provider Code: 00113B
References and further reading
Ajjawi, R, Boud, D, Zacharias, N, Dracup, M, Bennett, S (2019) How do students adapt in response to academic failure?
Student success, 10(3)
Bibby, T. (2002) Shame: an emotional response to doing mathematics as an adult and a teacher, British Educational
Research Journal, 28(5), 705–721.
Enhancing student well-being - unistudentwellbeing.edu.au
Chi Baik, Wendy Larcombe, Abi Brooker, Johanna Wyn, Lee Allen, Matthew Brett, Rachael Field, Richard James
Enhancing student wellbeing: Resources for university educators http://unistudentwellbeing.edu.au/