HK teachers struggle to deal with students' emotional issues

Poor connections

Successful handling of youthful trauma demands empathy and an understanding of the experiences young people are going through, according to experts. "Humans are a social species. We rely on connections to survive," said Justine Campbell, a counselor, coach and positive psychology practitioner.

"However, it takes time to build connections," said Campbell, who founded the Mindquest Group, a well-being center in Hong Kong.

Building that connection means teachers have to spend time "babysitting" their students, in addition to undertaking their regular classroom duties.

In April last year, Cindy felt as though she was close to breaking point when Andrew was in meltdown. She was teaching 30 classes to students from three different grades every week, as well as supervising extracurricular activities, sports meets, cheerleader training and preparation for a Mandarin competition. In addition to those duties, she was in charge of rehearsals for a school performance that would be open to the public.

Her working days are full, with little time to spare. Every morning, she arrives at the school at about 7 am, prepares her classes, attends an obligatory meeting, and then leads her students in a daily reading session.

She teaches six classes a day, with the first starting at 8:25 am. The period between 12:55 pm and 1:50 pm is split - half lunchtime and half advisory period. When classes end at 4 pm, Cindy spends the next three hours providing extra tuition for students who are having trouble with their studies, or working with student organizations. From 8 pm to 10 pm, she tackles the work she hasn't had time to address earlier during the day.

Cindy always feels torn between discussions with her students and organizing extracurricular activities. Her long and futile heart-to-heart with Andrew was continually interrupted by other matters; for instance, the rehearsals for the public performance. While Andrew was baring his soul, the students at the rehearsal were becoming impatient.

If all that weren't enough, the overworked teacher is also required to help promote the school.

Student enrollment has fallen at the school, as it has at almost every school in the city. An expected surge in student enrollment from the mainland has yet to materialize, and Hong Kong's ongoing low fertility rate has forced the government to close many schools as a result of a lack of students. Survival for many of the schools that remain means attracting more children and maintaining student numbers.

Cindy writes for the school brochure, rehearses the students' performance and organizes exhibition kiosks for open days, hoping to create the best possible impression for students and their parents.

Reduced class sizes

Elizabeth Quat Pui-fan, a lawmaker from the city's largest political party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said smaller class sizes would help to relieve the pressure and allow teachers to spend more time with their students.

The city government began promoting the idea of fewer students in class in 2009. Studies supported the idea, predicting that it would benefit both students and teachers.

A study conducted in 2011 by Gary James Harfitt, associate dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong, found that lowering the teacher-to-student ratio would allow students more opportunities to take part in class discussions.

The relationship between students in schools with smaller class sizes was also shown to be better, and teachers experienced lower levels of stress.

However, some scholars have cautioned that lowering student numbers has not been tested in Hong Kong, so there is no guarantee that the situation would improve, while the cost of delivering education could rise.

Teachers cannot replace school mental health counselors, because they already have too many other responsibilities. More important, they don't have the training to be counselors.

If students have problems beyond the scope of social workers, they are referred to psychiatrists in public hospitals.