Psychosocial Support Coaching Guide for School Staff

The guide is designed to support Ministry of Education (MOE) staff in coaching school staff on psychosocial support (PSS) activities as schools reopen after the COVID-19 pandemic. The guide emphasizes the importance of psychosocial support in helping learners, teachers, and parents cope with the stress and challenges caused by the pandemic. It highlights the need for school staff to be equipped with skills and knowledge to provide support to learners and their families. The guide outlines the key components of the PSS activity guides, which include introduction, objectives, planning, activity steps, and annexes. It also provides coaching tips for MOE staff to facilitate the coaching process with school staff. The coaching guide focuses on three key areas: stress management, understanding feelings and emotions, and child rights. For stress management, the guide suggests that school staff should define stress, discuss its causes, and engage in activities to reduce stress. For understanding feelings and emotions, the guide recommends discussing the importance of discussing feelings with each other and playing games to help learners understand and manage their emotions. For child rights, the guide emphasizes the importance of defining rights, discussing where people get rights, and working together to protect learners' rights. It also suggests reviewing the shield activity to help learners understand their rights and responsibilities. Throughout the guide, MOE staff are encouraged to model the exercises and activities in the main activity guide, remind school staff of COVID-19 protocols, and solicit views from principals and teachers on how to implement the exercises and activities. The guide is designed to be used in conjunction with the PSS activity guides, which are intended to provide school staff with the skills and knowledge to support learners and their families. The coaching guide is meant to provide MOE staff with the necessary tools and tips to facilitate the coaching process with school staff. The guide is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 IGO license, which allows for free use, distribution, and adaptation of the work, provided that attribution is given to the original authors. Overall, the Psychosocial Support Coaching Guide for School Staff is a valuable resource for MOE staff and school staff in Liberia, providing them with the necessary tools and knowledge to support learners and their families in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.