Debate: Healthy education, healthy career?

Initially, the vice rector at KhiO, Heidi Haraldsen, spoke about a research project she has led. Haraldsen has interviewed young athletes and artists to understand why some handle pressure better than others. What is it that makes some resilient, while others become more vulnerable in stressful situations? Haraldsen explained that both personal, environmental and situational factors interact together and affect our performance in a negative or positive sense. Among the factors with a particularly negative impact, she singled out perfectionism, the experience of a lack of authenticity or a lack of inner motivation. The athletes who struggle the most are often those who are externally motivated.

- The typical artist is both motivated, dedicated and ambitious, explained Haraldsen.
- But the high motivation means that many are willing to cope with anything to pursue their dreams.

Idun Gabrielle Fougner-Økland, piano student at NMH and head of SUT, could recognize herself.

- It is almost expected that you are a perfectionist, she said.
- We who are students are constantly encouraged to neglect and set aside our basic needs in order to pursue our artistic potential. For me it has been downright harmful.

In her opening speech addressing the students at the beginning of the semester, Fougner-Økland told about a bodily reaction she got after pushing herself too hard for a long time. Her body collapsed one day, laying trembling outside one of the concert halls for twenty minutes before slowly recovering.

- Afterwards, I realized that many of the students at the school have had similar experiences. Everyone around me went through major crises during the year, which they didn't talk about with anyone or each other.

She herself wishes that someone had told the students that the most important thing is that they are well and are functioning well.

- There is a lot of research that shows that athlete health is important, she continued.

- But this is not necessarily addressed by the teachers.

Moderator Ellen Stabell was no stranger to these thoughts either.

- We employ teachers who are at the top level in their fields artistically, but they do not necessarily have expertise in subjects like this.

Why is it that music and art students struggle more than other students? Musician and psychologist Jo Skaansar talked about how today's young people generally experience a great deal of external pressure about how they should be. In everyday life, they receive constant reminders of their own shortcomings through social media.

- We confront and compare ourselves with the most beautiful, most successful people in the world on a daily basis. That is a structural problem.

He further elaborated on how athletes are in extra demanding situations, as they are expected to perform at a high level non-stop. At the same time as they have a large workload, they have to deal with being exposed to the public. The performing artists operate in a framework that is rigged to create winners and losers. They have to fight for both jobs and attention.

- Many music students also struggle with loneliness, and among musicians it is often those who work most alone who have the most mental problems, he said.

Singing teacher Frank Havrøy could relate to this.

- We musicians spend many hours alone in our rehearsal rooms, and when we experience physical pain or mental challenges, we have been told that this is something we have to figure out ourselves. There is probably a lot of shame attached to being open about one's challenges, and it is only now that it has become somewhat okay to talk about not feeling well all the time.

Havrøy will lead a working group at NMH with a focus on musician health. The aim is to let the health focus permeate all the school's subject plans and teaching.

But how do you actually contribute to making the students more resilient in the face of adversity?

Theater student Ulrik Græslie believed that part of the answer may lie in working for a sense of community.

- To counteract loneliness and the experience of not being good enough, we work a lot to build a community at the Theater Academy. We try to build on each other's strengths, focus on the fact that we are in this together and that we can lean on each other.

Haraldsen believed that the main key is working on several levels at the same time. She is concerned about giving the students good coping tools, while at the same time addressing the system, the structures and the teacher/student relationship.

- And then we have to change the narrative regarding the ideal student. That is not actually a student who works twenty-four/seven, because that is harmful.

Panelist Skaansar pointed out that the basics are important:

- If you feel insecure, lonely and have no one to talk to, it is very difficult to learn anything. We have to go from there.