Childhood wellbeing: what role for education?

Abstract

The word wellbeing is ubiquitous in political discourse, and concerns about childhood wellbeing are particularly rife. This paper identifies, in the context of Scottish policy, how different professional discourses of wellbeing have migrated into education policy and it examines how this relates to learning. Taking a view of policy enactment as recontextualisation, the paper also explores how teachers and policy actors understand their role in supporting wellbeing. The paper shows how Scottish policy portrays wellbeing as personal skills of self-management (discourses of health promotion, and of social and emotional literacy) fostered through a caring environment. Health and wellbeing is represented as a prerequisite for learning, rather than an outcome of education. The contribution of teaching and learning to childhood wellbeing is over-shadowed. While some interviewees repeated or reinforced the main messages of policy, others took a more nuanced view, identifying how a high quality learning experience could enhance the lives of children in the present and the future. Moreover, teacher interviews showed how good relationships were not simply a foundation for learning; they were also a product of the shared pedagogical endeavour. The paper concludes by suggesting that the relationship between learning and wellbeing can be considered at different levels. At a basic level psychological and physical wellbeing enhances opportunities to engage in education, but at a more complex level, the choices that teachers make about content and pedagogy can create opportunities for young people to lead lives they have reason to value.

Loved or listened to? Parent and practitioner perspectives on young children’s well-being

“…What seems to have been more central for practitioners is the importance of listening to children. Spratt (2015) found that teachers' views tended to echo the written policy discourses on well-being, and recent years have seen considerable emphasis placed upon children's rights, and the importance of hearing children's voices. Globally, it is evident in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).…”

“…Common to both reasons is the potential for the idea of wellbeing to be understood differently by different people, with consequent possible confusion and disagreement (Spratt, 2015). These differences in understanding then influence both what is measured, and how it is measured.…”

“…A wide range of benefits have been attributed. These include the importance of well-being for learning and school success (Education Scotland, undated) including the key disposition of involvement (Laevers, 2000); resilience (Bagdi and Vacca, 2005); positive relationships (Barblett and Maloney, 2010); amelioration of problem behaviours (Spratt, 2015), and as a protective factor against mental illness (Weiss, Westerhof and Bohlmeijer, 2016). Seland, Sandseter and Bratterud (2015) cite studies which point to enhanced productivity, better health and even enhanced life expectancy.…”

Student behaviour, motivation and the potential of attachment‐aware schools to redefine the landscape

“…It would be hard to argue that all ‘traditional’ approaches are antithetic to children's wellbeing, even if there are differences in emphasis and approach, while, as we have seen, there was a lack of consistency even under the ECM agenda (Ereaut & Whiting, ). Jennifer Spratt () offers a helpful typology of discourses in her exploration of wellbeing in Scottish educational policy. The development of children's policy in Scotland has diverged considerably from English models, particularly since 2010.…”

“…Taking the Scottish Curriculum for excellence (Scottish Executive, ) and Getting it right for every child (Girfec) programmes (Scottish government, , 2012b), Spratt draws on Ereaut and Whiting () to suggest that there are potentially four themes (Spratt, : 225) which are implicit in discussions of wellbeing, although she emphasises that these are not mutually exclusive and several themes can be present within any particular approach. The four themes are: Theme 1: Discourse of physical health promotion, emerging from medicine Theme 2: Discourse of social and emotional literacy, emerging from psychology Theme 3: Discourse of care, emerging from the field of social care Theme 4: Discourse of flourishing, emerging from philosophy …”