04 Sep 2025

Lubos Jurik is a Technician in Journalism at UCA and an alumni student of the PgCert in Creative Education.

Lubos Jurik

My creative response piece is inspired by recent conversations with journalism students, many of whom are international. Journalism as a discipline requires them to engage deeply and frequently with global news, some of which directly relates to their home countries. To reflect their emotional experiences, I created a “Breaking News” screen segment design, mirroring live television news. The content was drawn from student conversations, highlighting the issues that matter most to them.  

This piece combines a global conflict tracker, a collapsing building, and advice on coping with homesickness. Each element in the design is intended to visualise the tension many students silently carry. The world map, adapted from a conflict tracking source, features multiple active zones of unrest. For students, these are not remote geopolitical stories, they are personal realities that evoke fear, helplessness, and distraction. The multilingual "Breaking News" banner scrolling along the bottom represents how this emotional weight cuts across cultural and linguistic boundaries. It symbolises the noise they cannot escape, regardless of their physical location. Meanwhile, the sidebar highlighting a university blog on homesickness intentionally sits to the side, still visible, yet dwarfed by the intensity of the global events presented. This layout symbolically reflects how institutional support, while present, often feels secondary to the overwhelming emotional realities some students face.  

Through the creation of this piece, one recurring theme became clear - the emotional impact of global conflict and homesickness on international students in higher education. Frampton, Smith, and Smithies (2022, p.32) highlight this connection directly: “...economic turmoil, corruption or other significant political events can contribute to feelings of uncertainty, distress, and helplessness.” This quote echoes what I’ve witnessed among my students. Their emotional state isn’t just shaped by academic pressures, but also by ongoing concerns for family and community abroad

This led me to critically reflect on my own role in higher education. As a technician and a teacher, I used to see my contribution as primarily focused on technical teaching and skills development. But now, I see how my role sits within a broader educational ecosystem, one where emotional awareness and human connection are just as essential as subject expertise. My responsibility includes creating emotionally safe environments, allowing for flexibility, and responding to how wider world events affect students’ ability to learn and participate.

This concern is echoed in national data. The Office for Students (2023) reports that students who declare a mental health condition are less likely to continue their studies than those who do not. In 2021, 86.9% of students with a declared mental health condition continued their studies, compared to 88.8% of those without one. Although the difference may seem small in a single year, the data over the past decade consistently shows a gap in continuation rates between the two groups. This highlights the real, long-term educational impact of mental health struggles and further justifies the need for a more responsive, caring approach within higher education teaching practice. 

Carl Rogers’ (1969) person-centred approach to education supports this idea, emphasising the need for empathy and the promotion of psychological safety in the classroom. Joseph, Murphy, and Holford (2020, p.558) extend this idea, stating that “person-centred education is a form of positive education, insofar as both emphasise the promotion of human flourishing.” This framework helps me understand that emotional wellbeing is not a side issue, but it is central to the success of any pedagogic approach.

However, this is not a responsibility I carry alone. Smith, Chan, and Rahman (2023) argue that “there is still a need for improvement and that all academics need further development to enhance their confidence and ability to meet challenges related to student mental health concerns.” This highlights a wider awareness within higher education that teaching staff, regardless of discipline, must be equipped to recognise and support emotional distress. 

My creative project, along with the conversations and readings that informed it, represents a form of educational research in practice. It has shaped my understanding of what teaching in higher education truly involves and why we must continue evolving to meet students where they are, emotionally as well as intellectually. I now build more opportunities for informal dialogue into my sessions, and I’m more mindful of the emotional toll certain content might have. I also try to signpost mental health resources more actively and advocate for greater flexibility when needed.   

Further reflecting on The UCA’s resource on house sickness linked in the QR code of my piece. It offers helpful guidance, but I noticed it still refers to the COVID-19 lockdown period, suggesting it hasn’t been updated recently. While the advice remains valuable, some references may no longer reflect the current student experience. Through this research and reflection, I can use my newfound understanding and provide more up-to-date support to students, ensuring they receive relevant guidance. This shows the importance of regularly reviewing student resources, and how I can play a role in bridging those gaps to better support student wellbeing. 

In conclusion, this process has helped me situate myself more clearly within the higher education landscape not only as a teacher of content, but as part of a system responsible for supporting student wellbeing. I hope this piece and reflection encourage others to consider how mental health awareness can become an integrated, compassionate part of their educational practice. 

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