Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist.
Welcome to our latest post where we explore the world of CBT in the Classroom, CBT in an educational setting and its transformative impact. In this comprehensive guide, we will examine how cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is not only changing the way educators approach teaching but also revolutionizing how students manage their behavior and mental well-being. We will also uncover the strategies, benefits and real life success stories that highlight the importance of incorporating CBT techniques within an educational setting.
Learn how teachers can skillfully use cognitive-behavioral strategies in an educational setting.
Cognitive behavioural interventions are increasingly recognized as a viable, research-based approach appropriate for use in school settings. For some pupils it is their emotional response to events in school that leads to a disproportionate emotional reaction. This leads to unacceptable behaviour that can end up with disciplinary
Table of Contents
Many children fall into the category of aggressive; over anxious; considered a bully or a victim of bullying.
There are also the pupils who experience social phobias, panic disorders, sleep problems, performance anxieties, obsessive behaviours and rituals and attentional difficulties. Others may be withdrawn or have low self esteem. Uncover the effectiveness of integrating Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) within educational settings. Explore how educators can adeptly utilize CBT in the classroom to effectively handling their conduct and nurturing their emotional health.
CBTcan help students control their own behavior, rather than attempting to control student behavior with external reinforcement alone (e.g., tokens for staying on task, praise for raising hand). CBT teaches students to use self-talk to affect or to modify their underlying thinking, which in turn affects the way they behave.
👉 Simply put, self talk (also known as covert self-instruction) consists of talking to oneself to solve a problem or guide behavior. Cognitive strategies can help students learn “how-to-think”, instead of “what-to-think.” CBT is based on students’ self-control rather than external rewards and punishments. While we all know the benefits of using rewards (good) and punishments in the classroom, CBT theory suggests that it is even more important to teach students how to use their thinking to improve their own behavior.
Research studies (Stephen W. Smith, Ph.D. & Ann P. Daunic, Ph.D) with a variety of teachers and students with a wide range of behavioral needs have shown over and over again that when teachers use cognitive-behavioral strategies in their classroom, the effects on student behavior have been effective and positive in managing behaviour. Cognitive-behavioral therapeutic interventions are increasingly recognized as a viable, research-based approach appropriate for use in school settings.
The clinical fields of psychiatry and Psychology are increasingly recognising that CBT has been successfully used in a range of settings including hospitals, residential care / treatment facilities, and outpatient clinics to treat conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety and panic disorder, social phobia, eating disorders, alcohol and drug dependency, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and problems with anger and aggression. Due to positive results in clinical settings, CBT interventions have gained favor in school settings.
Time limited offer
✔️ Receive training in all the major schools of psychology.
✔️ You can do the courses one at a time! You can even gift one to a colleague.
✔️ A Diploma Certificate is awarded for each course successfully completed.
✔️ There is no time limit for completion – take your time and enjoy the learning.
CBT interventions are student operated, as opposed to more traditional teacher operated systems, meaning that they are based on students’ self-control rather than external rewards and punishments. While we all know the benefits of using rewards (good) and punishments in the classroom, it is even more important to teach students how to use their thinking to manage their own behavior.
For the purposes of this article I wont be going into the full theories of CBT but I will try to explain how it is a very effective method to improve mental health.
Cognitive is a technical word used to describe anything related to thoughts. CBT is concerned with how our thoughts influence our emotions and behaviour. Negative thoughts automatically lead to negative feelings and poor behavioural choices.
CBT involves responding to and modifying our thoughts—to help us cope better in our daily lives and feel less anxious
You can make your brain change!
When we modify thoughts, we actually change the brain!
Practicing various types of thought patterns over and over actually rewires our brain so that new, more effective and productive thought patterns emerge spontaneously. This doesn’t happen overnight, You won’t achieve it with occasional attempts. It takes consistent practice to make the brain function in a healthy way. The bodybuilder doesn’t build great muscle tone by going to the gym sporadically. It takes a lot of commitment to keep our brains healthy and fit but the rewards can be remarkable.
Teachers will encourage students to discuss how they think about themselves, classmates and the world around them. They will also teach them to think about how their actions affect their thoughts and feelings.
CBT teaches that when we change our thoughts and actions then our feelings will change and improve.
CBT interventions, provide instructional techniques such as explicit teaching and use of modeling, role-playing, feedback, reinforcement, and cognitive components that include cognitive modeling. Changing students’ inner dialogue and teaching them better ways to think can influence their behaviors such as bullying, hitting, pushing, or teasing. Students can learn to develop and use self-instruction to inform more positive behavioral choices.
“I’m stupid”
“I just cant learn this stuff”
“I’m just a loser”
“I’m not cut out for school”
“I am going to fail this class.”
“I might as well drop out of school.”
” Where is the point”
“Everyone is better than me”
“I’m a useless student”
“The teachers hate me”
Numerous studies demonstrate that teaching children cognitive strategies can strengthen pro-social behavior and decrease maladaptive behaviors like hyperactivity/impulsivity, disruption, and aggression. By using CBT interventions in the classroom, teachers can equip their students with the skills to remain in control of their behavioural choices in a variety of settings, even when teachers are not around.
A major concept in CBT are Negative Automatic Thoughts, (NATS). These are thoughts that pop into our heads uninvited. Sometimes they persist in our heads for hours.
Automatic thoughts are ‘unconscious’ for instance they can operate without our awareness of them.
NATS are a stream of thoughts that we can notice, if we pay attention to them. They are negatively framed interpretations of what we think is happening to us. They usually have an impact on our mood and our feelings, that isn’t positive.
NATs can lead to self-doubt, depression, anxiety, anger, irritability, and low mood. They are not helpful, or useful and yet we all have them.
When we are anxious, the brain alerts us to potentially dangerous things in our environment for our safety. We need to have this radar to be sensitive to actual real dangers. Imagine what would happen if we did not have negative thoughts when we were in danger…we probably wouldn’t try to protect ourselves! It is helpful to have this inbuilt automatic response.
The trouble is this system malfunctions due to a myriad of reasons related to our early developmental experiences. For the purpose of CBT therapy it is not important as to how this happened, what is important is how you deal with this in the here and now.
If we constructed our unhelpful view of the world, we have the power to deconstruct it and construct a more helpful view instead.
The first step to begin “restructuring” or responding to negative thoughts is to identify the thoughts that cause us distress.
How Can CBT Techniques Be Applied in Classroom Settings?
CBT practices can be been seen in classrooms through techniques such as explicit teaching, modeling, role-play, feedback, reinforcement, and also cognitive aspects like cognitive modeling. Teachers may promote communication on emotions and thoughts, problem-solving using coping phrases, and discussion on making good behavior choices by teaching cognitive restructuring.
What Are the Benefits of Incorporating CBT in Education for Students?
Rewards of applied techniques are inclusive of self-regulation, less maladjusted reactions/behaviours such as aggression, anxiety, and emotional wellbeing. The main tool of the CBT is the individual monitoring, problem solving and restructuring one’s thinking that help the student with better academic and social results.
Can CBT Strategies Be Used for All Students or Only Those with Specific Needs?
CBT techniques are all encompassing and no one will be excluded as these students may include those with specific psychological or behavioral needs. While being especially suitable for the students who are already struggling with problems like anxiety, anger or low self-esteem, CBT provides the whole students’ community with such skills like self-awareness, emotional regulation and problem resolving which are of great value in terms of personal growth.
Sign up for our Excellent Diploma course in CBT.
©2023. The Behavioural Training Institute
