Why is there so little nationally and internationally comparable data on the social and emotional wellbeing of children and young people?

How can Australia begin to benchmark the wellbeing of its own children and young people without such basic information?

With the support of the Fred P. Archer Trust, which is managed by the Trust Company, and in partnership with the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) and UNICEF Australia, ARACY commissioned two research papers to address what is meant by social and emotional wellbeing for children (those aged 0–12 years) and young people (those aged 13-25 years) and to identify possible key national measures / indicators based on these constructs. This work also considers the policy and practice implications of analysing and reporting on such data.

The new emphasis on whole-of-child reporting has complemented more longstanding series of reports on issues such as educational achievement in Australia and internationally (OECD, 2001, 2004, 2007). It is also in step with broader international efforts to develop wide-ranging indexes of child and youth wellbeing (Ben-Arieh, 2008; UNICEF, 2007), and with efforts to develop more comprehensive measures of human progress that go beyond national income statistics.

This is evidenced by the recent 3rd OECD World Forum, held in Korea in 2009, at which one of the main themes was new measures of social progress that go beyond GDP, including indicators of happiness, life satisfaction, mental health, subjective wellbeing, and social and emotional wellbeing.

The report on the ‘Conceptualisation of social and emotional wellbeing for children and young people, and policy implications’ is available at http://www.aracy.org.au/cmsdocuments/SEWB%2007_071%20(2).pdf.

Project News: http://www.aracy.org.au/index.cfm?pageName=SEWB_Project_News

Read more: http://www.aracy.org.au/index.cfm?pageName=Social_and_emotional_wellbeing_indi

This thesis examines an instance of the failure of a parent-led bid for a new local school in Queensland at the end of the last millennium.

This parent-led and school-endorsed initiative failed despite a policy climate that appeared actively to encourage such initiatives from government funded school communities.

The work shows that the parents of Sunnyvale College, (a pseudonym), were both encouraged by the policy environment and discouraged by the response given to their new schooling initiative, from being full educational partners in the process of the schooling of their children.

The unanticipated failure is investigated as a case study of parent engagement set against a background of relationships between government and particular educational stakeholders in that time and place.

It examines how these relationships are played out in this context and what the implications of this are for contemporary relationships of this type.

Download the thesis at http://eprints.qut.edu.au/16322/1/Kym_Macfarlane_Thesis.pdf

Research and practice in the vast field of school-family-community relations have evolved dramatically over the last thirty years. Schools throughout the world face enormous challenges due to demographic changes and societal problems, making partnerships among schools, families and community groups a necessity.

Specific issues such as poverty, school dropout, violence and suicide, the wider diversity of students and parents, the higher accountability demanded of school systems, the implementation of school reforms and a multitude of government strategies and policies all contribute to a rapidly changing educational world.

But as this book shows, even though research is often being undertaken independently in different countries, strong similarities are apparent across countries and cultures. School-family-community collaboration is no longer a single country issue.

The book brings together contributions from culturally and linguistically diverse countries facing these common situations and challenges. It details practices that have proved effective alongside relevant case examples, and covers a wide variety of topics, including:

• challenges arising from the application of parent-school legislation at national level
• the work of schools with migrant groups, low-income parents and parents with behaviour problems.
• evaluation of various family-school-community partnerships programs
• the way ahead for Family-School-Community Relations

Read more at http://www.routledgeeducation.com/books/International-Perspectives-on-Contexts-Communities-and-Evaluated-Innovative-Practices-isbn9780415479493

The purpose of this study is to examine and understand the school-parents-community partnerships created by teachers who received the Queen Rania Award for Excellence in Education. This study analyzes the applications of the 28 teachers who received the Award in 2007 and addresses three questions:

* How do teachers who received the Queen Rania Award communicate with parents and the broader community?
* What kinds of voluntary work do teachers who received the Award pursue inside and outside the school?
* And, How do teachers who received the Award encourage students to be more aware of social and community issues and then motivate students to be involved in the community?

The findings of the study show that teachers connect with parents and the community in five ways: (1) communicating with parents, (2) involving parents in the learning process, (3) involving the community in the school, (4) pursuing volunteer projects, and (5) involving students in the community.

Each of these categories are divided into several themes that represent ways to connect with parents and the community.

Read more at http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/44/b7/cb.pdf

A list of the article section headings should convey the scope:

• A research perspective on school-community partnerships
• What do we mean by “family” and “community”?
• What are the benefits of family and community participation in schooling?
• What do schools have to do to for effective partnerships?
• So why are family-school partnerships important for boys?

There are some very good insights to be had in this e-Bulletin (and a great References list): http://www.newcastle.edu.au/centre/fac/binsp/vol-12-no-1/startup.html

Incidentally, the Family Action Centre has developed a course on family-school-community partnerships (School and Community Partnerships to Improve Boys’ and Girls’ Outcomes) to be available as part of the Master of Educational Studies at Newcastle Uni.

More about the course: http://www.newcastle.edu.au/centre/fac/binsp/vol-12-no-1/training.html#SCP

Their findings point to three core components of these successful systems:

• creating district-wide strategies
• building school capacity, and
• reaching out to and engaging families.

Read more: http://www.hfrp.org/family-involvement/publications-resources/seeing-is-believing-promising-practices-for-how-school-districts-promote-family-engagement

Family-school partnerships are increasingly touted as a means of improving both student and school improvement. This recognition has led to an increase in policies and initiatives that offer the following benefits:

1. improved communication between parents and educators
2. home and school goals that are mutually supportive and shared
3. better understanding of the complexities impinging on children’s development and
4. pooling of family and school resources to find and implement solutions to shared goals.

This will be the first comprehensive review of what is known about the effects of home-school partnerships on student and school achievement. It provides a brief history of home-school partnerships, presents evidence-based practices for working with families across developmental stages, and provides an agenda for future research and policy.

Read more, pre-order at: http://routledge-ny.com/shopping_cart/products/product_detail.asp?curTab=DESCRIPTION&id=&parent_id=&sku=&isbn=9780415963763

“Parents make a vital contribution to their children’s education, and strong partnerships between schools and parents can enhance children’s learning. This innovative report presents the views of primary and secondary school staff, parents and children. The report points the way forward and suggests key triggers for schools, including strong leadership and a culture of consultation with parents, children and school staff.

It includes:

• full findings of recent research
• a comprehensive resources section, including real-life examples, case studies, topic guides and factsheets for parents and schools
• models for building strong school-parent partnerships.

This book is essential reading for anyone involved in developing effective partnerships between schools and parents.”

Anyone read it?

Go to the web page.

Their website contains information on papers and measures developed during the course of research on the parental involvement process.

While a lot of this information – like many academic reports – is dense and expressed in terms that seem stilted, it’s significant that “One goal of [a recent] three-year research program was effective and helpful communication of study findings to participating schools”.

The Lab achieved this goal by producing reports for participating on its research, offering specific and informed suggestions for enhancing family school relationships.

You’ll find a link to an MS Word example of a report to a school on this web page.

It’s also worth having a look through the rest of the site.

The authors discuss the strong developmental research case for family–school–community partnerships and emphasize the need for continued evaluations to demonstrate the types of partnerships and involvement practices that are best correlated with positive student outcomes. Instead of narrowly defining education reform as initiatives that take place within the walls of K–12 school buildings, Weiss and Stephen argue for the need to address the wide range of external factors that influence children’s learning success, and illustrate how family–school–community partnerships provide opportunities to broaden our definition of schooling and understanding about where learning takes place.

Read more

Download the chapter