Abstract
As confirmed by organizations such as UNAIDS, UNICEF, NGOs, and various authors, the psychological, social, physical, and emotional turmoil caused by varying degrees of violence, abuse, neglect, abandonment, and bereavement have negatively impacted orphans and vulnerable children's education. However, very few studies have been conducted to document the psychosocial support provided to OVC in public schools. Psychosocial support is rarely available to vulnerable children around the world despite the fact that it is a fundamental right for children who have largely gone unacknowledged. Despite signing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, many governments pay lip service to them; thus, the purpose of this chapter is to contextualize them. Educational stakeholders must pay close attention and contribute to the provision of inclusive education that meets the needs of all children. This chapter contributes to a better understanding of the difficulties teachers face when providing psychosocial support to OVC as well as interventions to address these difficulties.
TopIntroduction
The chapter delves into a better understanding of hitches faced by teachers as they offer psychosocial support to vulnerable children faced with a variety of adversity issues such as poverty, orphanhood, and chronic illnesses. Children all over the world are subjected to abuse, toxic stress, neglect, and marginalization, all of which require immediate attention if we are to have a stable future nation. Children with impairments and their families are continually confronted with obstacles to their enjoyment of basic human rights and social inclusion (Majoni & Majoni, 2017; Mulungu, 2018). Their abilities are ignored, their capacities are undervalued, and their needs are ignored (UNICEF, 2007). The obstacles individuals experience are more often caused by the environment in which they live more than by their handicap.
There is a deliberate call to alleviate the difficulties that children face in their homes, as well as the desire to uphold the right to peace enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. By so doing, this would necessitate the implementation of psychosocial support in educational settings where children spend the majority of their time as enshrine in the article 49 of General Assembly resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989 entry into force on 2nd September 1990. Due to these realities, nowadays schools can be viewed as being best positioned in terms of providing psychosocial support to learners (Franklin et al, 2017). Also, teachers can be seen as the “main actors” in driving the needed support and care. The new demands placed on schools mean that principals and all teachers have a role to play in seeing to it that all learners in their care receive the necessary emotional support they need for the formation of a positive well-being to enable them to complete their studies (Kearney 2016; Paulus et al. 2016).
To be able to address the psychosocial needs of learners it means that schools must ensure that all systems are in place as far as communication between the different sectors. The involvement of social workers and psychologists to ensure proper coordination and implementation of psychosocial support (Heltne, Dybdahl, Elkhalifa & Breidlid, 2020). This would further ensure an understanding of the support needs for the learner which would further translate to an organised plan of care. This would in turn mean that all the professional people are working together in close cooperation to bring support to the child, give each other support, advice and share ideas on the best practices.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Resilience: Resilience is the ability of people and systems to overcome adversity and recover from negative life experiences and disturbances. Being resilient does not preclude people from experiencing stress, emotional upheaval, or suffering. People who lack resilience are easily overwhelmed and may resort to unhealthy coping mechanisms.
Ubuntu Spirit: Ubuntu is fundamentally about community, a quality that includes the essential human virtues of compassion and humanity, as well as how all of our actions affect others and society. It is the common thread running through the United Nations' Global Goals, as well as the driving force behind the mission to end extreme poverty—so that everyone, everywhere, can live equally.
Psychosocial Support: Psychosocial support refers to actions that address important aspects of positive human development, such as a person's emotional, social, mental, and spiritual needs, as well as the psychological and social needs of individuals, families, and communities. Psychosocial support helps children, and their families develop internal and external resources to deal with adversity.
Vulnerability: The inability (of a system or a unit) to withstand the effects of a hostile environment is referred to as vulnerability. It is a state of emotional vulnerability accompanied by a degree of uncertainty. A window of vulnerability is a period of time during which defensive measures are reduced, compromised, or absent.
Family-Centred Care: Family-centered care is defined as a mutually beneficial partnership among health care providers (HCPs), patients, and families that ensures the health care planning, delivery, and well-being of children and their families. It proposed to address not only the needs of the patient, but also those of their family members.
Attachment: Attachment can be defined as a deep and long-lasting emotional bond between two people, a feeling of love or strong connection to someone in which each seeks closeness and feels more secure in the presence of the attachment figure. Adult attachment behavior toward children includes responding sensitively and appropriately to the child's needs.