Here we will upload recent and relevant information about wellbeing research, policies and practice in education. Also, the last few relevant posts on the site are accessible by clicking on the link symbol (đ) on the images at the bottom of this page.
You can read our most recent newsletter here: mailchi.mp/growinggreatschoolsworldwide/growing-great-schools-worldwide-newsletter-november-2019
We also want to share your stories – what has worked for you in helping young people and their teachers flourish? Register or login on the site to add your comments.
=================================================================================================
Conferences
Upcoming Wellbeing conferences – please note we only tell you about WELLBEING conferences not those that say wellbeing but are actually about mental illness!
If you have a conference to add to this list, please let us know.
24th January 2020, Kingston-upon-Thames: Sue Roffey:Â Using psychological intervention to improve outcomes for children and young people
29th January 2020, Cardiff: Westminster Insight, Mental Health and Wellbeing in Schools Conference
2nd-4th and 6th-7th April 2020, Christchurch and Auckland, New Zealand: Sue Roffey & Denise Quinlan: Positive Education NZ: 4th Positive Education Conference
11th-13th May 2020: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: Pan-Canadian Summit on K-12 Workplace Well-Being
24th-27th June 2020, Reykjavik, Iceland: the 10th European Conference on Positive Psychology:Â Creating a World We Want to Live In
23rd-24th October 2020, Xiâan, China: Dehong Safe at School Conference keynote plus workshops
28th-30th October 2020, Xiâan, China: Sue Roffey: Circle Solutions Introduction and Trainer courses
=================================================================================================
Whole school wellbeing
The New South Wales Association of Independent Schools has a website on the features of school climate:Â aisnsw.edu.au/school-climate/Pages/Default.aspx
********************
Young Minds UK have published a paper on Prioritising Wellbeing in Schools:Â youngminds.org.uk/media/1428/wise-up-prioritising-wellbeing-in-schools.pdf
********************
The draft Australian National Statement of Principles for Child Safe Organisations has been published, making the links between children’s rights and wellbeing explicit. The consultation draft for these principles can be downloaded from the Australian Human Rights Commission website.
This project is a key action in the National Framework for Protecting Australiaâs Children 2009-2020. This Framework is a long term collaboration and commitment between the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments and the non-government sector and key researchers that focuses on keeping Australiaâs children and young people safe and well. The Third Action Plan prioritises efforts on prevention and early intervention activities and strengthening abilities of organisations, families and communities to care for their children and young people. Implementation of the Third Action Plan is also informed by the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
A child rights approach recognises, respects and protects the rights of children in the development and implementation of laws, policies, practices and other decisions affecting them. These rights are set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child which Australia ratified in 1990.
An approach that recognises, respects and protects childrenâs rights requires a move away from child protection approaches that perceive children as subjects in need of assistance rather than as individuals with rights.
A child rights approach supports the strengths and resources of the child and surrounding social systems such as family, school, community, institutions and religious and cultural systems.
********************
What Makes a Great School? Deconstructing the school-quality rankings that parents rely on â and finding a way to measure what matters: an excellent Oct 2017 article from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, all about measuring what we value, not valuing what we measure!
Test scores donât tell us a tremendous amount about what students are learning in school.  … Even if scores did reflect what students were learning in school, theyâd still fail to address the full range of what schools actually do.  … (M)y research team has found that high standardized test score growth can be correlated with low levels of student engagement. Standardized tests, in short, tell us very little about what we actually value in schools.
********************
Measuring wellbeing in primary schools – this guide is from the Evidence-Based Practice Unit in the UK
********************
The Ideal School Exhibition:Â Â This paper from the RSA explores the experiences of schools in the UK that are bucking the trend and re-visiting the purpose, principles and power of education. It is a long read, but worth it!
This paper is about a group of schools that are bucking a growing and concerning trend: that of schools narrowing their focus, and hollowing out their teaching, in their desperation to meet the constantly shifting demands of the governmentâs accountability system.
This trend is understandable. The risks associated with leadership have become so high, with governors and trustees fearing for their schools and headteachers fearing for their jobs, that the task of clearing the latest threshold or hitting the next target has come to dominate almost everything many schools do; proof, if it were needed, that in high-stakes, low-trust systems, only those things that get measured tend to get done (with too few questions asked about how they get done).
But there are some school leaders who simply refuse to play this bureaucratic education-by-numbers game; leaders whose decisions are shaped, not by the governmentâs agenda, but by their own sense of mission â by the higher purpose to which they have dedicated themselves and their schools.
********************
Just before the previous UK election (May 2017), the House of Commons Education and Health Committees published a report on Children and Young Peopleâs Mental Health – the Role of Schools, which leads off with this encouraging statement
We support a whole school approach that embeds the promotion of well-being throughout the culture of the school and curriculum as well as in staff training and continuing professional development.
We can but hope that this report is followed up with action. There have been a number of other reports on this subject over the last few years that are worth referring to in the same context: there are links to them here.
Teacher wellbeing
London’s City University have published a report on their Teacher Wellbeing Research – though this is geared more to measuring teacher stress rather than what to do about it: for the latter, you can start with Sue Roffey’s article for Education Canada: Creative Caring for Teachers: How a whole-school well-being approach can support everyoneâs mental health  – then follow up with the links from our Teacher Wellbeing page …
********************
OFSTED inspection myths – this guide might improve the wellbeing of teachers preparing for an inspection!
School belonging
KidsMatter (Australia)âs Families newsletter has a great article on the importance of belonging at school and how to go about this, covering:
- What do we mean when we talk about belonging and inclusion?
- Why are belonging and inclusion important at school?
- How can parents work with teachers to help foster a sense of belonging in their child at school?
Social emotional learning
The problem with the concept of âgritâ: read this article from Aeon: Teaching âgritâ is bad for children, and bad for democracy
There is a time and place for grit. However, praising grit as such makes no sense because it can often lead to stupid or mean behaviour. Duckworthâs book [Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance] is filled with gritty people doing things that they, perhaps, shouldnât.
********************
Social and Emotional Skills are NOT âsoft skillsâ ⌠watch this excellent short video from Edutopia!
=================================================================================================
Reports
The Children’s Society Good Childhood Report 2018 – This makes for challenging reading – but everyone concerned with young people and their wellbeing should do so. the_good_childhood_report_full_2018
RSPH and the Young Health Movement have published a report examining the positive and negative effects of social media on young peopleâs health. The report includes a league table of social media platforms according to their impact on young peopleâs mental health. YouTube topped the table as the most positive, with Instagram and Snapchat coming out as the most detrimental to young peopleâs mental health and wellbeing. You can download the report here.
Leave A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.