Building positive relationships are foundations to rebuilding lives
Janice Mullan, President of the Ulster Teachers’ Union 2025-2026, Literacy Lead Teacher in an EOTAS (Education Other Than At School Centre) supporting students who find it impossible to sustain their mainstream placement due to severe anxiety, diagnosed mental health issues or just not feeling good enough.
In the quiet classrooms and creative spaces of EOTAS centres, some of the most transformative work in education is taking place, not just in literacy and numeracy, but in relationships, resilience and hope. My class sizes are smaller than most, and for my pupils who have been excluded, disengaged or whose circumstances make mainstream schooling unbearable, our centre is a vital second chance at whose heart lies the spirit of Sustainable Development Goal 4: ‘Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’. Education should reach every learner, whatever their background, challenge or story. I tell every student that their story is their ‘superpower’; they are here, inspiring everyone around them.
All arrive in my classroom carrying emotional trauma or fractured family relationships or experiences of bullying and social isolation. All feel that, academically, life is over for them and that they will never be able to attend college or get a job; how sad is that at just fifteen years old? And so, relationship education, rooted in emotional literacy, is a central pillar to my teaching, as is the positive relationship which is necessary if the student is to not only survive, but thrive. Confidence in spelling, grammar and vocabulary increase, as if by magic, with growth in self-esteem and a sense of belonging.
At the moment in Northern Ireland, we are reviewing assessment. I hope the aspirations of SDG 4 do form part of this. The psychological and emotional needs of our students must be addressed by teaching them to question and thus understand their feelings and thereby, themselves, in order to allow them to develop and carve out a sustainable future for themselves. For these students, education is not just inclusive, it’s truly transformative.
The ideal of inclusion is practised daily by advocating and modelling empathy, sensitivity, belief and compassion. When a young person with severe anxiety finds the courage to walk into a class again, when they begin to smile, trust and offer their ideas and opinions, that is progress of the highest kind.
One of the most successful learning activities was an integration programme with a small group of 15 to 16 year-old pupils from a neighbouring special school. These pupils had moderate learning difficulties, and we met once a week for an indoor games session, usually football or hockey.
Even the most cynical and battle-scarred teenagers' emotional defences were broken down when they came into contact with pupils who were non-judgemental about designer clothes or iPhones. All pupils enjoyed learning and teaching how to dribble a ball and score a goal. This was true inclusion, built on sensitivity, empathy and fun interaction.
Like all teachers in EOTAS, we work miracles, but we need resources to effectively meet the needs of young people experiencing emotional distress and anxiety; we need counselling, therapeutic support and specialist staff on site. Mental health support must not be seen as an optional extra, but as central to education for all.
Education must be seen as teaching students to mature into caring, capable and connected individuals who value themselves and those around them. Assessment and data capture must acknowledge and value this.
Teaching unions will continue to lobby those in power that inclusion is not just a theory, but a valuable, daily practice which travels far beyond its humble beginnings in the classroom.
by Janice Mullan, President of the Ulster Teachers’ Union 2025-2026
