It includes

• promoting physical and mental health
• developing social and emotional competencies
• enhancing the capacity of pupils and educators to make healthy choices
• creating supportive environments that foster positive relationships, collaboration, learning, and personal development

Wellbeing or positive mental health is a dynamic state in which people are able to realise their own potential, cultivate innate capacities, nourish their abilities and cope with the daily stresses of life.

 Wellbeing at school means

• active and meaningful engagement in academic and social activities
• having positive sense of identity, ability to manage thoughts, emotions, self-esteem, self-efficacy and a sense of autonomy
• building and maintaining positive and supportive relationships with teachers and peers
• feeling safe, valued and respected
• feeling a sense of belonging to their classroom and school

Declining skills and mental health

The latest results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), show a worrying decline in basic skills and students’ exposure to bullying has been increasing. Evidence from World Health Organisation reveals that adolescents today experience poorer mental health than previous generations. 

Increase in bullying

Research has shown that bullying (including cyberbullying) is a widespread phenomenon with devastating consequences on learners’ health and academic achievement and increased risk of early school leaving.

Teachers at risk

There is also a noticeable decline in teacher wellbeing [pdf], with an increase in burnout and stress due to new challenges faced without adequate resources, training and support. This can have negative consequences on health, self-efficacy and teaching practices. These factors increase the likelihood of leaving the profession.

Engaging the whole school

The whole-school approach is one of the more effective ways to support the wellbeing of children and young people.

Strategies that use the whole-school approach acknowledge the schools, families and communities as interconnected entities of an ecosystem that impacts the learner. This means that decisions and actions can take place at multiple levels of this ecosystem, at the same time.

The whole-school approach also builds stronger cooperation between the school, the local community and a wide range of stakeholders, including:

• municipalities 
• health and welfare agencies 
• youth organisations
• higher education institutions

By engaging all parts of the school ecosystem, whole-school approaches can tackle to deal with complex issues that schools may not have the relevant expertise for. Often, these issues happen beyond the school grounds and may include:

• socioeconomic challenges
• cultural and racial discrimination
• trauma and adverse childhood experiences
• (cyber-) bullying and other forms of violence

Further materials

The Pathways to School Success initiative aims to promote better educational outcomes for all learners, while acknowledging the integral relationship of wellbeing and school success. 

The series of factsheets for schools, illustrate the different dimensions of promoting a “whole-system, whole-school approach” to wellbeing and mental health. 

The 2024 guidelines for policymakers, educators and school leaders aimed to address wellbeing and mental health at school complement this work. Benefiting from the vast knowledge and first-hand experience of the expert group, the guidelines contain a set of 11 recommendations coupled with tips and inspiring practices on the development of comprehensive and integrated strategies. They place a strong emphasis on prevention and involving communities beyond the school ground, in particular families, municipalities and actors from other policy fields such as health.