Contextual Wellbeing : Creating Positive Schools from the Inside Out

Our schools and colleges have never done so much to 'teach' whole school wellbeing, support mental health and engage young people in learning. Yet, young people have never been so disengaged, demotivated or distressed in our schools.

Dr. Helen Street believes that we need to embrace and support Contextual Wellbeing if we are to effectively help young people to flourish; and that means changing our fundamental understanding of what it means to be a 'good school'.

Contextual Wellbeing is a state of health, happiness, and positive engagement [in learning] that arises from membership of an equitable, inclusive, and cohesive [school] environment

If we are to help young people attain a love of learning and flourish at school, then we need to explicitly support their wellbeing. In this book, Helen Street introduces a definition that underpins an alternative way of supporting young people, and an alternative way of delivering education.

All too often we try to help a child who is distressed at school by encouraging them to change or to develop as an individual. We want them to be more confident, more resilient, less anxious. But what if the answer is not about trying to help that individual to change, in whatever capacity? What if the answer is all about creating a healthier environment for that individual?

I believe that wellbeing is an interplay between our best individual self and our best environment. As such, happiness and success are far more than individual pursuits, or even individual responsibilities. Lasting happiness develops from the ongoing creation of healthy connections to others and to the world around us.

Happiness is a positive state of wellbeing resulting from our connection to a social environment that supports and nurtures us to become the best we can be. PD Book