.Many children struggle to learn in a traditional classroom. The result is that they often miss days or even outright refuse to attend. After years of struggle, many find it all too hard, and just give up.

These behaviours are bringing us a message. Rather than trying to modify the behaviour that appears on the surface, I believe we need to learn how to read their meaning and address the underlying cause.

Perhaps, through their behaviour, the children are saying “school is just not the right place for me to be right now”.

Classrooms can be stressful for us all!

In over 20 years of working with children with learning difficulties, only one child has ever said they enjoyed school. In fact, a number have admitted to actually hating it!

After a lifetime of living with and socialising with classroom teachers, I have watched their struggle increasing, and listened to their stories about increasingly challenging student behaviours.

When my daughter was struggling to attend school, I wanted to understand her, and started researching. (You can read my story here).This article is my attempt to bring some light and understanding to a difficult subject.

My School Experience

As a parent, going into school grounds, let alone a classroom, has always been difficult. Simply being in a school environment would causes all sorts of unpleasant sensations to surface.

This includes memories of sitting in a classroom and trying to remain invisible, so as not get into trouble for some misdemeanour, or to be picked to do something – maybe read aloud to the class, or publicly answer a question in mental arithmetic.

Then there was the risk of public humiliation, being asked a question, simply because the teacher had noticed I was gazing out of the window. If asked, would I have said I enjoyed school? Probably not, but I didn’t have the courage to object. I have always enjoyed learning, however, school just wasn’t an ideal learning environment for me.

So what is the school experience like for today’s child?

Traditional Approach to Classroom Learning

In a “one size fits all” approach to learning, it is generally assumed that all children are developmentally ready to start school when they reach a certain age. For many children, this is simply not the case. As a result we see delays in learning potential, challenging behaviours and poor self esteem as children struggle to keep up with their peers, often with no idea why they are falling behind.

Why is this happening?

We need to feel safe to learn. When we feel safe our senses are open to taking in and processing information. However, for many children, particularly those impacted by early trauma, being open to learning also means being open to disturbing emotions and sensations of threat.

To them, the classroom simply doesn’t feel safe. Children struggling with immaturities in their early development can easily become overwhelmed. Finding it difficult to process sensations, noise, people and visual input may trigger an alarm to go off in their bodies. Walking through the school gates can take courage, let alone actually going into the classroom.

Although we know they are safe, they’re not feeling it, and their nervous systems are telling them to be vigilant.

The Polyvagal Theory and the Nervous System

The Polyvagal Theory gives some clues. Also known as the science of safety,  it was developed by neuroscientist and psychologist, Dr Stephen Porges. His work emphasises the role the autonomic nervous system, especially the vagus nerve, plays in emotional regulation.

His work gives us a basis for understanding student behaviours, recognising behaviours that belong to a stress reaction, and are happening below conscious awareness. Our nervous systems  are continually scanning our environment for cues of safety and threat.

While an environment may feel safe to an adult, a child’s nervous system may perceive it completely differently. Seemingly innocuous events can trigger a nervous system response out of touch with the present. We need to feel safe to learn.