EDUCATION FOR THE GOOD SOCIETY - Support

13 Barbara Fredrickson, ‘Therole of positive emotions inpositive psychology: the broadenand-buildtheory of positiveemotions’, American Psychologist,2001, p.218.14 Julia Margo and Sonia Sodha,Get Happy: Children and YoungPeople’s Emotional Wellbeing,NCH, 2007.15 See www.learningtolead.org.uk.16 Lucie Stephens, Josh Ryan-Collins and David Boyle,Co-production: A Manifesto forGrowing the Core Economy, nef,2008.17 For example see Jane Gillham,Karen Reivich, Derek Freres,Tara Chaplin, Andrew Shatté, B.Samuels, Andrea Elkon, SamanthaLitzinger, Marisa Lascher, P.Gallop and Martin Seligman,‘School-based preventionof depressive symptoms: arandomized controlled study ofthe effectiveness and specificityof the Penn Resiliency Program’,Journal of Consulting and ClinicalPsychology, 2007, p.9.18 Amy Challen, Philip Noden,Anne West and StephenMachin, UK Resilience ProgrammeEvaluation: Final Report, 2011,www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DFE-RB097.pdf.19 Nic Marks, ‘Happiness is aserious business’, in Reflectionson Employee Engagement,Chartered Institute of PersonnelDevelopment, 2006.20 Rob Briner and ChrisDewberry, Staff Wellbeing isKey to School Success, WorklifeSupport, 2007, available at www.worklifesupport.com.obvious importance in educational settings. 13None of this will be news to teachers.Analysis of the British Cohort Study (whichtracks a group of children born in 1970) hasshown that emotional well-being in childhoodand young adulthood is one of the most importantfactors predicting whether an individual willbe socially mobile and experience good mentalhealth. The evidence suggests that emotionaland personality attributes like self-esteem andfeelings of control are equally, if not more,important than cognitive abilities (literacy andnumeracy skills) in predicting labour marketearnings in adulthood. 14Of course, what matters most is how individualteachers teach in individual classrooms. However,it is worth mentioning one or two initiativesthat may also play a role. The Learning to Leadprogramme, which has been developed and pilotedin a number of schools in Somerset, creates selfelectedschool community councils, where pupilsoperate in self-managing teams to undertakeprojects with outcomes that demonstrablyimprove aspects of school life. Learning to Lead isnow being piloted nationally and will be robustlyevaluated to examine the extent of its impact onwell-being outcomes. 15 More generally, it hasbeen argued that co-producing education, sothat the promotion of pupil well-being is a jointresponsibility of pupils themselves, parents andschool, not only improves people’s autonomyand sense of control, but also connects them totheir local community. 16In September 2007, three local authorities(South Tyneside, Manchester and Hertfordshire)piloted the UK Resilience Programme with Year7 pupils in 22 of their schools. Improving theemotional resilience of young people equipsthem to better deal with their emotions andhas the potential to develop a more positiveapproach to the way they live their life. Researchhas also indicated that the implementationof the programme may improve educationalattainment, reduce teenage pregnancy, preventschool exclusion, fend off teenage depression,improve teachers overall skills and promoteeducational inclusion. 17 The participants areencouraged to identify and challenge negativebeliefs and to use effective coping mechanismswhen faced with adversity. Participants alsolearn techniques for positive social behaviour,assertiveness, negotiation, decision-making, andrelaxation. The final evaluation report found asignificant short-run improvement in pupils’depression symptom scores, school attendancerates and academic accomplishments in English. 18It is also worth remembering that teacher wellbeingis vital. In any occupation, experiencingpositive emotions at work is correlated withhigher job satisfaction, engagement with workand job performance. 19 Not surprisingly, recentresearch has found that levels of teacher wellbeingwithin schools are linked to measuresof pupil performance. 20 The evidence suggeststhat an atmosphere within teams that is bothsupportive and appropriately challenging, andwhich allows staff to exercise their personalinterests, strengths and skills, is one most likelyto lead to staff’s well-being – and thus children’swell-being.Measure what mattersHowever, the reality is that we prioritise what wemeasure, and that despite the efforts of individualteachers and heads, the impact of individualprogrammes and the fine words from the DfEwe continue to measure quite narrowly definedstandards of academic achievement. It is not,of course, that academic achievement does notmatter. It is rather that other things matter aswell, such as well-being, and that the current focusleads, as is well known, to a particularly narrowinterpretation of achievement, notably ‘teachingto the test’. Measuring well-being is to measuresomething that both matters in itself, and cancontribute to deeper forms of achievement.Measuring well-being means usingsubjective measuresThe best way of monitoring good feelings andgood functioning, as set out in our dynamicmodel, is by asking people for their ownassessment. There are always measurementissues in any survey, but survey design, includingchildren’s survey design, is now a sophisticatedscience. The result is that schools can ensurethat they place children and young people atthe centre of the evaluation process rather thanrelying on the indirect measurement throughparents, teachers and other adults’ perceptions of28 | www.compassonline.org.uk