1st Edition
The Ultimate Guide to Implementing Wellbeing Programmes for School
This is an essential guide for all teaching professionals to help them make an informed decision about what wellbeing programmes and initiatives they should select in their schools and why. It provides teachers and school leaders with all necessary knowledge to help identify what they should be looking for in wellbeing programmes, how they should be evaluating its effectiveness and who should be delivering it for them. It presents a suite of components and evidence-based interventions that teachers can pick-and-choose for their school community.
For the first time, practitioners are not being sold a specific programme but instead presented with what is known about wellbeing in order to empower them to make their own decisions that best suit their community. It goes behind the scenes and reveals the secrets used by researchers and experts, including practical advice, recommendations and the author's own ground-breaking research study involving 3,000 students. Its unique pick-and-mix process demystifies programme creation, simplifies it and makes its building blocks available to the masses.
This accessible, evidence-based guide suggests a whole-school approach with specific interventions that can be used to successfully improve the wellbeing of teachers and students, making it an invaluable resource and must-read for all teaching professionals.
1. Introduction 2. Making sense of the complex world of wellbeing 3. Your guide to the essential elements of wellbeing 4. The mechanisms that enable successful wellbeing interventions 5. A review of established school wellbeing programmes 6. Your guide to making the best-informed decisions
Biography
Jolanta Burke, Ph.D. is a chartered educational psychologist with the British Psychological Society, and assistant professor and researcher in Maynooth University, where she teaches wellbeing for Master’s in Education and Master’s in Educational Leadership and Management. For her work on wellbeing, she was acknowledged by the Irish Times as one of 30 people in Ireland who make it a better place. For more information, visit www.jolantaburke.com.
‘If you care about the wellbeing of your students, you must read this book. Through the theory and practice of wellbeing in schools, Dr Burke is taking us on a fascinating journey of a child’s and school community’s wellbeing. It is all you need to know to create a wellbeing strategy in schools. The book is fresh, balanced, and highly recommended.’Dr Itai Ivtzan, Positive Psychologist and Associate Professor, Naropa University, Boulder, USA
‘This book is based firmly in positive psychology research and gives a solid rationale for why wellbeing is so central for all students. It is a volume of considerable depth and does not duck the challenges of context, the complexity of the concept, the resistance of some educators to fitting in yet another initiative, nor the problems associated with seeking ‘happiness’. Importantly it places teacher wellbeing at the heart of a whole-school approach and the centrality of caring school leadership for effective change. The theory is enhanced with the author’s own experiences, reflections and stories of practice from around the world. This is a welcome text for educators who want something more substantial than a simple ‘why what and how' of wellbeing.’
Dr Sue Roffey, Ted-X speaker, Founder of the Wellbeing Australia Network
'Wellbeing in schools has rightly become an important and even urgent topic. But it is a complex issue and needs to be understood and approached in a careful and evidenced-based way. In that respect, this book is a wonderful guide to the latest research and theories in this area, together with practical ideas and resources for how to actually implement these insights. Very clear and easy-to-read, this is an indispensable book for anyone interested in how to help children and young people flourish at school and in their lives as a whole.'
Dr Tim Lomas, Senior Lecturer in Applied Positive Psychology, University of East London, UK
