Wellbeing: a new frontier in teaching

 We had a recent opportunity to work in a small group of teachers on an inquiry project around 'How do we identify students with wellbeing needs?' Mental health needs are increasing. In fact, our research indicates that 20% of students will show symptoms of mental health concerns. Teachers are faced with situations that we are not necessarily equipped to know how to handle or what to say or who to refer to. This was a great opportunity to work through an inquiry process, considering what we already know about the topic, what we need to know, conduct some research on the issue and come up with some proposals for our context. 

What was interesting to observe during the inquiry process is even teachers are reluctant to spend time with the open questions and allow research to inform our responses and conclusions. We often observe this in our students, that they often come to problems with a foregone conclusion and research feels like an obstacle to getting to the end product. I found teachers generally have the same difficulties. It was hard to hold the questions as genuinely open before designing solutions. We were eager to jump to the end product where change happens (understandably so!) and not dig deep in research. I wonder what we can learn from this in order to help our students be more authentic in their research and inquiry processes?

Our inquiry showed us that we need to be more equipped and prepared for students with mental health concerns. Schools are now seen as the first line of prevention in being able to identify and refer appropriately. So it is prudent that we are thorough in working out ways to approach and formalise processes that support both teachers and students in caring for the wellbeing needs of students. Here is the link to our presentation on our inquiry.