Whenever I conduct a Focus Group, I ask parents to list the things that are most important to them in terms of their children’s schooling. Invariably, the parents rate highly the wellbeing of their child – his or her happiness, confidence, openness, a sense of flourishing.  This alone seems like an excellent reason to include wellbeing as a regular topic in the Bureau’s e-Newsletters.

I happened across the following information from the South Australian Department of Education and Children’s Services.

In January 2007 the Department, based on the premise that Wellbeing + Involvement = Engagement in Learning , launched its  Learner Wellbeing Framework for birth to year 12 . During the development and the ongoing implementation of the Learner Wellbeing Framework educators in sites across South Australia have been involved in local site research, inquiring into ways to improve the wellbeing, learning and achievement of their learners from birth to year 12. Each research site has been supported by a project officer, based in central office.

In February 2009, twenty-five sites were selected from a pool of 56 applicants to participate in a funded and supported learner wellbeing inquiry with a focus on the voice of learners. This group will continue into 2010.

A copy of South Australia’s Wellbeing Framework  is available here: http://www.decs.sa.gov.au/learnerwellbeing/files/links/link_72840.pdf