We all know the general message that “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 or your children’s experience in school. Are wellbeing and educational outcomes held in equal regard?

What about your experience in the workplace?

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

A “welfare” approach tends only to focus on ensuring individuals or organisations aren’t struggling. Whereas a wellbeing approach aims to ensure individuals and organisations are positively flourishing.

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

It’s easy to dismiss this as being too difficult to implement in the school setting, but with a little creativity in school leadership and curriculum design it is possible to incorporate many of these ideas into your school.

The question is, how could your school do it?