Session Two

Understanding & Guiding Whole-person Development

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Session Two: Teachers' Roles in Understanding & Guiding Adolescent Development

What are teachers' roles in understanding and guiding adolescent development?
- The nature, concepts, and theories of adolescent development
- Teachers' roles in guidance and counselling in schools

Assignment briefing

Learning Outcomes

At end of the session, the participants will be able to:
1.  Identify the key features of the period of adolescence
2.  Refer to theories and concepts while dealing with school-related adolescent problems
3.  Understand the teachers’roles in guidance at school

Task: Understanding adolescents with developmental concerns (see above)

Example: (The task below is just selected from those tasks assigned in the Learning Guides.)

Please read the two scenarios in the boxes below. Then work in groups to address the following
issues:

a. What are the common concerns faced by junior secondary students in these two scenarios?
b. What advice can you give to Miss Chan and Mr. Lee to understand, guide and support their classes?

Scenario 1

Miss Chan is a S.1 class teacher. She is concerned about her students' emotional wellbeing and learning. 
Since September, she has noticed that a few students look distressed, not smiling at all in class. Some 
students appear to be quite dominating and attention seeking. A number of students wrote in their weekly 
journal that they found school life boring, and did not like their classmates. Her students do not have 
serious behavioural problems but there is not much class spirit. She wonders what she can do to help 
her students.

Scenario 2

Mr. Lee is an IS teacher teaching S.2 and S.3 students in a neighbourhood CMI school. His students' 
academic performance is quite average and no serious misbehaviors have occurred. He joined the school 
2 years ago and has been teaching the students since their S.1. This year he found some students who 
used to be verbal and participative in class activities remarkably changed --- now being reticent and 
reluctant to speak up. One secretly revealed to him that she doesn't want to be too "smart" in the group. 
On the other hand, some students seem to enjoy their attention-seeking behaviour. During the recent 
Parents Day a few parents reflected the concern that their children have started going out late. They can 
spend hours speaking to peers over the phone or keeping themselves in their bedrooms and just don't 
want to talk to their parents despite a satisfactory parent-child relationship described by the parents. 
Mr. Lee feels that he might need to do something ......"

References (see above)