How to create WB within the IB

1. Introduction to the topic

2. whats a wellbeing curriculum
3. how can we do wider community involvement
4. what happens if we are even more radical
5. how could we develop relational learning experiences
6. conclusion

Introduction
Assumption that we agree that creating WB in the IB is a good idea!

if not, and that is perhaps a conversation for another time, you can find a discussion about it on this
resource page: which includes a range of different resources including the words my script for this
session! ;-)

my fluid definition: WB is supporting each other develop flourishing humanity. Where our
purpose is to support the sustainable contentment of our communities.

In order to achieve this we require higher order skills taught to our students of:

emotional literacy,
of being able to read the social and emotional needs of of others.

The IB mandates this: Caring and Balanced are attributes of the Learner Profile.

But this is a profoundly challenging enquiry how should we create the environment where our
students develop a sense of this flourishing humanity to such an extent that it can inform the
decisions they make throughout their lives? i liked the phrase cognitive apprenticeships and there
is a lovely little meme of a child sat on a sofa looking particularly grumpy, arms folded and theres a
speech bubble coming from his mouth and he's saying,

so at school you want me to compliant, quiet, orderly and obedient but as an adult you want me to
think outside of the box, be assertive against injustice, be creative and challenge conventions,
adults i think we need to talk

When I started teaching I had this strong sense of unease about the levels of boredom in my
students and the levels of stress in my colleagues. Students did not have the power to act, they
didn't control their learning, they didn't respect their learning- they were however able to act out

I felt an overriding concern that poor behaviour reflected badly on me as a colleague. their acting
out made me me give them less space to act out. less space, less agency- more obedience. it
became a vicious circle. coupled with the pressure to get good results any idea about prioritising
wellbeing instead of focusing on behaviour would have seemed like a joke to me. so look i know
that in a sense i am preaching to the converted- but all of us are at different stages of our journey-
our professional one, our personal one. what we know from research at CASEL is that working with
well-being, working with the social and emotional development of young people- supports
academic progress as well as behaviour.

i want to point out what i think we can do to start this off- to begin this process and to reinvigorate
it. I think their are a number of prompts that can help that i want to share and explore with you
today.

Lets take part in 3 exercises- the first two are a hands up exercise a bit of last person standing
wins the purpose of the exercise is to share in the room where we are at on our schools
journeys and might help to define a bit what best practice looks like- (both these documents are
available in the notes)

Exercise One wellbeing curriculum

Does your school have a discreet PSHE/ Wellbeing Curriculum?

Does your school have a co-ordinator or designated responsible for this curriculum?
Is this curriculum articulated efficiently and shared with the wider community- tutor teams, parents,
other curriculum co-ordinators?
Is this responsible person you :-) are they a member of SLT?
Does the school have a team of people who work with the Wellbeing Leader?
might these team include SEN, Nurse, Safeguarding team, Enrolment,
Are these colleagues known as a Wellbeing Team?
Are students on occasion included in this team?

What gets taught in a wellbeing lesson? throw some examples around of what you teach? what is
a must?

CASEL, Lions Quest, PSHE association, IB SEL teacher resources, GNH 4 domains and 9 pillars-
framework linked to your mission and vision can really bring this story to life.
21st century character competencies at Ecolint

This is a good place to start- it slots in to the system of school but for me thats only just the
beginning

Exercise 2 wider community involvement

Does the school have a clear behavioural/ discipline policy?

Does your School have a student councillors supporting the maintenance of a behaviour/ discipline
policy?
Does your School avoid the word discipline in its policy nomenclature?
Does parental engagement support consistent delivery of this policy? In other words, does the PTA
or some organisation have a say in the system?
Does the school use a data capture system to keep tabs on this process? like isams?
can students view a part of their profile?

engaging in advocacy, promoting cognitive apprenticeships in social justice, in the common good,
in exploring the whys and hows of challenging behaviours as well as positive expectations is part
of the wellbeing mandate- how we respond to our emotional states, how we recognise the
emotional states of others how we can be consistent and understood as teachers, how it can be
fair, how we promote advocacy.

There are fabulous resources available from NVC, Mediation, Dominic Barter and Restorative
Circles a former student of Marshall Rosenberg

Exercise 3 going even further

But what if we didn't start with the traditional paradigms- and i know they are important but they
aren't the sort of creative, sparky, fun provocations that might start a bit of a movement in your
school- so i want to consider another one

Where is the happiest place in your school and at what time of the week?

Five minutes to stand up and stretch and share your thoughts about this question with someone
else. guess your answer, and work out how you would seek to find the answer- but also consider
what the more critical question is that underlies how might you proceed this with exercise as a
school and what might be the outcome of finding out

Here are some more questions that might lend themselves to a more creative reimagining of our
collective wellbeing

1. Is the students school bag an appropriate weight?

2. Where can a student find acceptable solitude in your building? (not a place to hide, maybe a
place to sit and reflect)
3. Aside from your pedagogical staff, which colleagues have the best insight into student
safeguarding issues?
4. What part of the school day is most stressful for your students?
5. Do colleagues get the chance to share their own learning experiences with the community?
6. What is the single biggest battle between students and staff? (cell phone/ uniform/ gum) & Has
the school asked the students to find a solution to this problem, and given them real power to
do so?
7. Where can we get fresh water in our building?
8. How could you find out if students feel trusted in your school?
9. How might the school measure success beyond in the SEL and how might they celebrate it?
10. Who shows prospective parents around the building?
11. Is the language of your school focused on obedience or agency? (rules, officer, trial day, power,
versus expectations, facilitator, etc.)

imagine how exciting, engaging, disruptive a journey like that could be- if the outcome was good
for the school, if it captivated the imagination of the community- if it changed something for the
better- its worth it- particularly if the inquiry was led by the council, voluntarily entered into, had real
legitimacy. Any thoughts?

Relational Learning

There are 4 areas to WB that your school probably already covers but they might be worth drawing
out. I am going to share with you 4 areas that i think are integral to the success of wellbeing in
school life they are in some instances positions of long standing academic development:

1. Health - Physical, Nutritional, Medical

2. Philosophy - TOK, Humanities, Librarian, Parents
3. Psychology - Ed Psych, IB Diploma, Counsellors,
4. Contemplation - Mindfulness, the students, to prayer room or not to prayer room

What might happen if you Got these teams together to consider how well their area was being
enhanced, resourced, evaluated: Once a year even.

the trick is to build from within what you have got- the consortium has agency- it shares a
language, its recognised, it brings people together, it promotes a value and ethnic, it demonstrates
capacity, we acknowledge the pre-existing wisdom in our community.

These don't have to be the themes to start. You can priorities your own:

Other consortiums might start with more specific questions:

How might we
measure WB?
Create the Spaces for Talk- value it, even amongst staff?
Combat Lonliness?
Collaborate on a Social Media Policy?
Enhance Parental Engagement?
 Make our community more child scale?
Enhance our WB curriculum?
Make sure our student transitions are exceptional?

conclusion-

i hope something that you have heard as piqued your interest. don't forget the resources

my fluid definition: WB is supporting each other develop flourishing humanity. Where our
purpose is to support the sustainable contentment of our communities.

WB is best when
1. its culturally maintained and not clipped onto the framework (external agencies)
2. It is prioritised in SLT
3. It is owned and created by a wide range of stakeholders, then recreated and refreshed
4. it is considered a vital compliment to academic achievement- it isn't an antidote or in
competition with academic excellence, it doesnt scrap for curriculum space.
5. it fundamentally aims to enhance relationships
6. when the topics are negotiated from the wider community
7. it meaningfully enhances student capacity for conflict resolution, emotional literacy, political
agency, contemplation and gives students a philosophical resilience to life challenges.
8. when the process enhances the lifelong learner in all of us and when caring for each is much a
part of community life as competing with each other.