Do you teach children that everyone can succeed? How often do you let children experience the feeling of success? Do you show them that rewards for success can be as simple as a smile, praise, or a good feeling, and that mistakes and failures are a normal part of life? Do you help children discover their strengths as well as their weaknesses and teach them how to work with them? How do you work with children so they don’t give up, even after several unsuccessful attempts? And how successful are you in combating their helplessness, passivity, lack of interest, and bad moods?

The learned helplessness syndrome is a little-known psychological phenomenon in our region. It develops when multiple failed attempts are perceived as unchangeable, leading us to believe we are neither capable of nor worthy of success. We become convinced that any effort will not help us, so we give up. We stop being active, withdraw, and cease to progress. Helplessness manifests as passivity, lack of motivation, bad moods, disrupted interpersonal relationships, low self-esteem, and a poor self-image.

The learned helplessness syndrome also affects children with special educational needs (SEN), children from socially disadvantaged or unstimulating environments, and children with behavioral disorders. However, this issue can also impact children from excluded communities or underdeveloped regions, who then face generational poverty.

Many parents or teachers attribute children’s failures to laziness, unwillingness to learn, or lack of motivation. Some may believe the child genuinely lacks the talent or ability to overcome a given problem. Some educational counselors have even observed that children don’t try in school because they know that even with poor grades, they will be admitted to secondary schools due to a lack of students.

Today’s society pushes us toward perfection. Straight A’s, first places in competitions, excellent careers, lots of money, and big houses are all expected. By demanding perfection from others and ourselves, we put ourselves under constant stress. We feel we won’t be successful until we get another promotion, a bigger house, or become flawless. Children observe this and try to conform to the same model.

“Every one of us is an amazing human being. Let’s teach children that everyone can be successful. Let’s give them that feeling, even if they achieve something we consider a small accomplishment. Success can mean mastering something on the third try. The important thing is that we didn’t give up and eventually succeeded. Let’s show children that the reward for success can also be a smile, praise, or a good feeling and that mistakes and failures are part of life. Just as no one is perfect, everyone has their strengths. To create a healthy self-image, build self-esteem, and achieve life satisfaction, we must discover these strengths. Parents and teachers should be guides in this process, helping children identify both their strengths and weaknesses and teaching them how to work with them,” explains Mgr. Mira Bianchi Schrimpelová, CEO of EXPOL PEDAGOGIKA.

“Finding meaning is most prominent and significant during periods when a child or adolescent is seeking their identity, shaping their self-image, and understanding the world. They are discovering who they are. These milestones are crucial. If they find meaning in activities and in their lives, it paves the way to life satisfaction. Therefore, an important task for both parents and teachers is to show children the purpose of various activities and present them in a way that helps children understand why they matter, even if they aren’t the most attractive. Our goal is to create a program to overcome the barriers of learned helplessness for children aged 10–11, as research shows this age group is particularly critical today,” adds Mira Bianchi Schrimpelová.

About the Project

To address this gap, starting November 1, 2024, the publisher EXPOL PEDAGOGIKA in Bratislava, in partnership with internationally renowned universities in Slovakia and Spain and primary schools in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Spain, launched the international project PROWELL – promoting well-being and mental health for primary school pupils and teachers through innovative prevention and intervention programs for primary schools.

Objectives of the PROWELL Project

• Enhance teaching competencies for subjects/topics related to mental health.
• Increase knowledge of various resources and ideas for delivering education related to mental health.
• Improve the ability to teach subjects/topics related to mental health.
• Develop skills for understanding and implementing mental health practices.
• Initiate change in school life.
• Promote awareness in the field of mental health.

How Do We Plan to Achieve This?

• By creating both preventive and intervention programs in the form of materials for teachers and specialized pedagogical staff, as well as asynchronous digital education.
• By developing worksheets for pupils in both printed and interactive formats.
• By creating an online platform with verified programs for pedagogical and non-pedagogical staff.

What Do We Offer Schools?

• A regular newsletter with updates on the PROWELL project.
• Free access to materials and the online platform.

First Partner Meeting

The international project partners met for the first time in Bratislava during a professional conference for school directors and teachers titled SCHOOL 2024/2025 – Resilient School: How to Overcome Crises and Grow?

During the first working meeting, partners defined and specified the main priorities of the project, the timeline of activities, and the budget. The project will last 36 months, with the next working meeting scheduled online for April 2025.

Project Number: KA220-SCH-0815707E. This project is funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ program. The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute endorsement of the content, which reflects only the views of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained herein.