The subject of wellbeing is receiving a lot of attention at the moment.
The term is placed at the front of many, if not most, schools’ websites in order to reinforce belief in the way educational institutions can nurture personal characteristics such as self-confidence, resilience, the management of stress and so on, in addition to helping students pass exams. Whilst (presumably) no one would deny the fact that schools can influence positively and negatively the development of these affective characteristics nor the importance they should assume in any school’s educational ethos, the term ‘wellbeing’ itself – perhaps like ‘mindfulness’ has become somewhat overused, even bordering on the clichéd.
Since the start of this year a number of individuals in the ITL have been working on projects that either directly or indirectly address the term and the significance that is or should be attached to it. Our aim is to help develop a policy that defines it in a way we agree is meaningful, document where its implications are being addressed – or could be more fully within our school curriculum, and engage in more specific and particular research projects that provide further support for our belief in the importance of an genuinely integrated, holistic education.
Wrapped up in these investigations are some key questions: what does the word ‘wellbeing’ mean to us and is it the right one to use? How important is the cultivation of happiness (or whatever wellbeing means) in our school, in comparison, say, to success in academic terms? Is it something that can actually be taught and if so, what is the best way to do so? Is it an implicit element of the curriculum or something that can or should assume more explicit identity and status? Should conscious, deliberate development of it apply as much to the staff as to students? Would a phrase such as ‘inner curriculum’ help? Where might its presence be addressed most keenly, for example, in the relationships we nurture and sustain; in the way students feel they can contribute to the development of school policy and practice; in the way students develop physical health and fitness; in the way we provide opportunities to engage with the natural world; in the way we describe success and measure it; in the way elements of our academic curriculum teach students about happiness; in the relationship of the school to the wider community.
We might consider how the term relates to various domains of experience: cognitive, emotional, social, physical and spiritual and how they affect each other. I would argue, for instance, that the importance of the relationship between academic progress and emotional intelligence or self-awareness is one that cannot be underestimated. As an English teacher for 25 years, I have time and again witnessed that how a student feels about their learning makes a very significant difference to the rate and depth in which learning happens. Equally, wellbeing seems to me about thinking as much as it relates to feeling. Understanding how our bodies, minds, personal, social and spiritual selves work is as much about application of critical thinking as our actual experience of these domains.
In the spirit of these ideas please find linked to this page some updates from various members of the ITL community. We hope you find them interesting and invite you to come along to our second ITL forum on the issues raised herein. This forum will take place on Tuesday 19 March, 16.15-17.30 in GSC2 – see you there?
