In-hospital school provides patients with a sense of structure and normalcy in their day

L-R: Julia Countway and Patricia Marchand inside one of IWK Health's classrooms. Photos by Ryan Wilson.

If you were asked to name the types of patient-serving roles at IWK Health, you’d likely list nurses and physicians. Maybe you would list some smaller teams like respiratory therapists or midwives, too. But would you list teachers? You should.

Last week, children and youth headed back to school. For most that meant going to a school in their community, but for some that are in the hospital, that means working with the teachers and educational support workers at IWK Health. The IWK has seven teachers and four educational support workers (ESW) that work with patients 12 months of the year to keep them engaged with their education. IWK teachers and ESWs have supported students in graduating, writing exams, completing co-ops and even achieving gym credits, all while in hospital.

Keeping up with school work and attending a therapeutic classroom is an important part of hospital care. In-hospital school provides patients with a sense of structure and normalcy in their day. It also gives them a level of personal control during an incredibly stressful time in their lives, when they may have limited control over other parts of their care. In this way, the patients maintain their identity as students. The therapeutic classrooms also offer a supportive space for some patients to build comfort within a learning setting and to practice skills that will help them to better cope within typical classroom settings. By continuing their education during a hospital stay, students are more easily able to transition back to community school after discharge.

“We don’t want a hospital admission to be the reason why a student falls behind or disengages from school,” says Julia Countway, Garron Centre therapeutic classroom teacher and professional practice lead for teachers and educational support workers. “Some students, prior to admission, also may have already fallen behind or had negative school experiences due to symptoms of illness and part of their care is to help schools to understand why this occurred.” IWK Teachers liaise with community school staff to create academic plans that consider the impacts of illness and treatment, while also allowing a student to stay connected with their education to varying degrees.

For many students, missing school time while in hospital is a big concern. There may also be instances where a student may not be currently enrolled in a school or has had a long absence from their education. In those cases, part of the support offered by IWK teachers is to reconnect them to their education or explore learning or personal goals that the student may have and help them through the process of pursuing them.

The majority of the IWK education team works in the Mental Health & Addictions program while one teacher and ESW serve Children’s Health. The team is incredibly collaborative and works closely with both clinical teams and students’ community schools. The level of communication with a school differs from student to student depending on their level of illness and admission length, but it is common for teachers to be in daily contact with schools. It’s important —for the mental health teachers in particular—to provide education to community school staff about how they can best support the student when they return, both academically and within the overall school setting, as school attendance is an integral part of their ongoing treatment and recovery from mental illness.

“The continual communication with community schools is essential to help ensure continuing progress that is not only attained in program, but transferred to the home and school environment, says Tamara Perlmutter, Adolescent Intensive Services teacher. “All youth spend most of their day in school and need to be able to transfer the skills gained to their own normal environments. The support staff within the regular school system are essential to this process and are always ready to do everything they can to assure an alignment between their programs of study and ours.”

Patricia Marchand, ESW in Children’s Health adds “Communication with students' home schools is vital. It helps keep children on track in the high school grades for example, so they can still get the necessary credits to progress to the next grade or graduate. It also makes for an easier transition back to school when the time comes as we try to keep our students connected not just with the work, but also with their classmates.”

Depending on the care area, some students attend regular, scheduled classroom time, while others receive more ad-hoc support. Everything is flexible to best suit the needs of the patient and work in collaboration with their health care treatments, whether that be deadlines, how assignments are completed or how students work together in groups. All accommodations are based on the needs of each individual student—something that everyone on the education team at IWK values.

“I have the ability to work one-on-one with students during their time at the IWK and tailor learning to meet their individual needs. I’ve been privileged to see students in the classroom persevere, work hard, try new things, while also going through a very difficult time in their lives. I have learned, and continue to learn, a lot from them,” says Countway.

“I love getting to work with fabulous students. I specifically enjoy the various grade levels. I may have a grade 12 working on an English essay and then switch focus to a grade primary learning to read, says Marchand. “It keeps me on my toes with my own learning."

“I’ve loved working on a multi-disciplinary team,” says Perlmutter. “I’m privileged to assist students individually to re-engage them in the educational process and expand on their future potential and possibilities. This is why school is such an integral part of the healing process. School begins at the age of four and continues throughout their childhood, adolescence and into adulthood. It is the centre of their world and is not only 'The filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire' [William Butler Yeats].”