Self Advocacy

Self-advocacy is the process of recognising and meeting the needs specific to your learning ability without compromising the dignity of yourself or others. (Brinckerhoff, 1994)

Self-advocacy, in the context of school for students, means speaking to teachers about how your learning is going when you need to. That might be as simple as any of the following:

• "that was a good level of challenge today, I've learnt new things"

• "I feel like I understand the work we are doing, are there any more challenging aspects to the topic that I might be able to explore?

• "I'm finding this topic fairly challenging, can you help me find a way of understanding it better?"

It is important that you try to be respectful to yourself and your teachers when you self-advocate. Being respectful to yourself can be as simple as acknowledging that everyone has times when they either need less or more challenge in their learning, and that's perfectly okay. Being respectful to others means having consideration for their feelings as well; around you, there might be some students who find the same work easy or hard, and that's okay; and when you speak to your teacher discussing some possible variation to your learning, it can be a positive dialogue that opens a discussion. This might sound like "I would like to try exploring some of the more challenging aspects of this topic..." or "I'm finding this really challenging, how can I work towards understanding this better...?".

It can be true that sometimes we all need to persist and practise things to make a breakthrough, but there can be times when the learning task is too challenging because it is either too difficult or too much work for you to complete in a reasonable timeframe. Possibly if you stay up all night you might get that concept, or get through all the workload... but that isn't the best for your mental health and wellbeing. We all need time for exercise, downtime for relaxing, time to read books of our own choice, and time to socialise. When your workload is too much or too hard, speak up and let your teacher know; doing this is normal, sensible and a good idea. Chat with them, send an email, communicate in whatever way you can and be honest. Your teacher is concerned for your wellbeing, as well as your academic progress. 

Signs of this might be:

• You feel overwhelmed.

• You are not getting through all of your work in a reasonable time.

• You are often skipping exercise or social time to get through the set work.

• Ordinarily, you like or love the subject, but now you feel flat about it. 

Strategies to cope:

• Communicate with your teacher. 

• Ask your teacher if they can break down learning activities into three categories: 

  • Must-Do 

  • Should-Do 

  • Could-Do

• On your good days, get through as much as you can; on days when you feel challenged, be kind to yourself and try to get through the Must-Do if you can, but leave the rest and go and do something that feels like self-care to you... be that exercise, a nap, chat with loved ones, or read a nice book!

• Maybe add any unfinished tasks from the Must-Do category to a To-Do list for tomorrow, but when that list gets big, reach out and let your teachers know -your mental health is more important than your academic progress! 

• Remember to reach out for help from the wellbeing team when you need to.

Barriers to Self-Advocacy:

• Perfectionist tendencies. People with perfectionist tendencies may find it very difficult to admit that they are not coping. Learning how to ask for help, learning that it is not always possible to be on top of everything is a major life skill for people with perfectionist tendencies. 

• Motivation. When you are struggling in life and feeling flat, the idea of self-advocacy can seem like an impossible effort -but self-advocacy may be part of what gets you back on track to feeling better and more motivated.

• Introversion. Many people feel shy about speaking up about themselves for a variety of reasons. If it helps, speak to a person you trust and feel comfortable and maybe they can support you with encouragement.  

• Embarrassment. It can feel awkward to admit that you are struggling to keep up, or that you are not finding the work challenging. But try not to this stop you, try the tips below, it may get easier once you've tried it.

• You may fear becoming overly emotional or shutting down when you are uncomfortable with a situation. 

•  It may be difficult for you to be honest with yourself about your weaknesses.    

10 Tips For Talking to Teachers 

It may appear that barriers are going to prevent you from being able to advocate for yourself, but if you try some of the tips below, and combine these with your existing skills, get some support from a loved one, and you may be surprised that it goes well.  

1. Contact your teacher in a way that feels safe for you, email is a good starting point. 

2. If you know other students who feel the way you do, consider approaching the teacher together. 

3. If you have a meeting with your teacher, think through what you want to say before going into your meeting with the teacher. 

4. Choose your words carefully. 

5. Don’t expect the teacher to do all of the work or propose all of the answers…make suggestions, offer solutions, bring resources. 

6. Be diplomatic, tactful, and respectful. 

7. Focus on what you need, not what you think the teacher is doing wrong. 

8. Don’t forget to listen. 

9. Bring your sense of humor (not joke-telling kind, but ability to laugh at misunderstandings and mistakes). 

10. If your meeting isn’t successful, get help from another adult.

(adapted from  NAGC: Deb Douglas, 2021)

References

These resources were taken with permission from the Smiths Hill School Library Website, complied by Daniel Jones. In text citations and references within the text acknowledge original authors.