Beneath the Deadline: Seeing Student Struggles as Opportunities for Compassionate Learning

Teaching is full of moments that ask us to pause before we judge. A message lands in our inbox from a student requesting more time on a task. The easy route is suspicion—another excuse? another delay? But when we approach learning through compassion, we remember that behaviour is often communication. Every moment of resistance or hesitation tells us something about a student’s experience that deserves to be understood before it’s evaluated.

Recently, a student wrote to say they were struggling with screen fatigue and headaches, making it difficult to complete a digital project. It would have been simple to extend the deadline and move on. But Teaching for Impact invites us to go deeper—to see each situation as a chance to design a more inclusive learning pathway that nurtures both achievement and wellbeing.

Here’s how the exchange unfolded:

Student:
“I’ve been finding it difficult to work on screens lately. I’m getting headaches and I’m in the process of getting my eyes checked. I’ve been trying to section my screen time into smaller bits, but I don’t think I can finish the task in time. Would it be possible to extend the due date?”

Teacher:
“I’m sorry to hear that. It must be difficult to keep up when so much of schoolwork relies on screen use. Let’s give you extra time—and how about we rethink how you work altogether?

We can move your process onto paper. I’ll provide you with a visual diary and printed materials to work from, and I can help convert your outcomes digitally at the end. We’ll build a way forward that lets you rest your eyes and still grow creatively.”

This small act of flexibility became more than a practical solution—it was a moment of trust. By redesigning the process around the learner’s needs, we affirmed that growth and care are not competing goals. Compassion doesn’t lower expectations; it clears a path for students to meet them.

This is what Teaching for Impact looks like in practice:

• Knowing students deeply (AITSL 1.1) and recognising the individual contexts that shape their engagement.

• Differentiating learning experiences (1.5) to ensure equitable access to creative expression.

• Building trust through communication (3.5) so students feel safe to share their challenges.

• Creating supportive environments (4.1) where wellbeing is treated as a condition for achievement, not a reward for it.

• Using feedback (5.2) that focuses on next steps, not missed steps.

Compassion in teaching is not sentimental—it’s strategic. It shapes the conditions that make authentic learning possible. When we respond to struggle with curiosity rather than control, we help students internalise a powerful message: that growth is still possible even when things don’t go to plan.

Creativity, after all, begins in that same space—in the reimagining of what’s possible when the original path no longer fits. By meeting students with empathy, we model the creative problem-solving we ask of them every day. The work gets done, yes—but something deeper happens too. They learn that their challenges are not interruptions to learning. They are the learning.