Supporting wellbeing at school: new guidelines for policymakers and educators
These are the first outcomes of the European Commission's expert group on enhancing supportive learning environments for vulnerable learners and for promoting wellbeing and mental health at school.
The 2 sets of guidelines address:
- education policymakers
- school leaders, teachers and educators
Key recommendations
In total, the guidelines provide 11 recommendations to implement a whole-system and whole-school approach to wellbeing and mental health. These recommendations include
- emphasis on prevention: building competencies, through social and emotional learning, safeguarding physical activities and nutrition, ensuring equity through targeted measures
- sustainable capacity increase: policymakers should take into account the additional resources needed for teacher training and professional development
- empowering educators to innovate in teaching while maintaining their own wellbeing
- including the youth in shaping their learning experience
- effectively support educators and youth though building robust networks with stakeholders from different sectors
Background
The activity of the expert group is part of the Pathways to School Success, a flagship initiative of the European Education Area. These experts include researchers, academics, teachers and school principals, teacher trainers, school and child psychologists.
The aim of the is expert group is to develop evidence-based policy recommendations and guidelines to address the wellbeing challenges young people and teachers are facing. These challenges include
- children and teenagers: the current decrease of wellbeing and mental health coupled with a decline in school performance could impact their education experience and later on, their employability and health
- teachers: the lack of adequate resources, training and support has led a decrease in wellbeing, impacting the attractiveness of the profession and leading to teacher shortages
The final report is due June 2024.