What comes first?

Over the last four weeks I’ve been all over Australia presenting at a variety of conferences. I have spoken to over 3000 teachers, nurses, social workers and other adults who work with young people.

In general the message at these events seems to be, “Student wellbeing is important as it impacts on their ability to learn and achieve.”

But just as wellbeing affects education, I believe it is crucially important to understand how education affects wellbeing.

How we educate our students can have a direct impact on their wellbeing – and ours!

It’s a classic case of the chicken or the egg – what comes first? Wellbeing or Educational outcomes? This is at the heart of my Virtuous Cycle model and relies on truly understanding engagement.

Think about your own experience in school. Are wellbeing and educational outcomes held in equal regard?

What about your experiences in the workplace?

Is staff wellbeing something that is genuinely promoted. And yes I am talking about wellbeing as opposed to welfare!

This Sydney Morning Herald article tells of some of the approaches Google take to ensure staff are flourishing… note the reference to philanthropy!

After a couple of weeks break (as well as working in my own school) I’ll be off round the country working with individual schools and education offices on strategies to enhance engagement and wellbeing in their respective organisations.