9.10 Wellbeing

9.10 Wellbeing

Education plays an important part in developing children and young peoples’ mental resilience and personal wellbeing. It equips them with the ability to adapt, work with others, think critically and be creative. It gives children and young people the skills and knowledge to fulfil their personal goals. Schools’ important role in promoting the wellbeing of young people became even more obvious during the COVID-19 lockdown and school closures. The Inspectorate research during September to December 2020 highlighted the importance of being in school for pupils’/students’ educational and social development, as well as their overall wellbeing. This was particularly evident in the survey and focus group responses from pupils and students. The findings also indicated that promoting the wellbeing of school communities was an important element of the successful return to school in September 2020.

Wellbeing was introduced as a mandatory area of learning in the new junior cycle curriculum

In 2017, Wellbeing was introduced as a mandatory area of learning in the new junior cycle curriculum. This was a positive step in raising understanding and awareness of wellbeing amongst school communities. The Department further acknowledged the need for a more thorough understanding of Wellbeing at a system level and, around this time, published the Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice 2018 - 2023. This statement set out the policy of the Department in relation to its role in the promotion of the wellbeing of children and young people in schools and centres for education.

The implementation of 400 hours of timetabled Wellbeing across Junior Cycle will be required by September 2022

Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) is one of the core strands of the junior cycle wellbeing provision. The others include Physical Education (PE) and Civic Social and Political Education (CSPE). Under the Framework for Junior Cycle, schools were required to move from a minimum of 300 hours for Wellbeing for students to 400 hours of wellbeing provision for their first-year students from September 2020.

While many schools were preparing to move towards 400 hours, in some cases the disruption caused by school closures in 2020 presented challenges in moving to this level of provision. In view of this, schools were given the option to defer the increase of wellbeing provision by one further year. This was extended again in 2021, meaning that schools now have until September 2022 to plan for the implementation of 400 hours of Wellbeing across Junior Cycle.

The report on the review of Relationships and Sexuality Education recommended that the Social, Personal and Health Education/Relationships and Sexuality Education curriculum be redeveloped and updated

SPHE is a mandatory curriculum subject in all primary schools. Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) is required at all levels, from primary through to Senior Cycle. While SPHE is not mandatory in Senior Cycle, there is a requirement to provide six lessons of RSE each year. Where schools include SPHE within Senior Cycle, it is timetabled weekly across all senior cycle years.

The SPHE curriculum in schools, which includes RSE, has been in place since 1999. The Report on the Review of Relationships and Sexuality Education in primary and post-primary school, which was published by the NCCA in December 2019, set out a series of actions in relation to SPHE, one of which was the redevelopment and updating of the SPHE/RSE curriculum. The review of SPHE curricula commenced in 2020 and, at the time of printing this report, was ongoing.

Figure from page 280

Considerable work has been underway to support schools in promoting children and young people’s wellbeing

Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice

2018–2023 Revised October 2019

The Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice (2018-2023) was published in July 2018. It aims to ensure that the promotion of wellbeing will be at the core of the ethos of every school and centre for education, and that evidenceinformed approaches and support, appropriate to need, will be provided to promote children’s and young people’s wellbeing.

Since the publication of the Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice (2018-2023), considerable steps have been taken to help realise its vision. These include:

Prepared by the Department of Education and Skills

■The promotion of wellbeing in school communities was identified as a priority in Cumasú–

Action Plan for Education 2019.

■An updated policy was published in 2019.

■A Department Wellbeing Office was established within National Educational Psychological

Service (NEPS).

■A range of key resources in the area of wellbeing was provided for schools.

■Every school and centre for education was required, by 2023, to use the school self-evaluation

(SSE) process to initiate a wellbeing promotion review and development cycle. Due to the impact of COVID-19 on school activities, this has been extended to 2025.

Findings from action research will inform the implementation of the Department’s wellbeing promotion process

During the 2019/2020 school year, the Department engaged in an action research project to support the implementation of its wellbeing promotion process. The work was led by the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST), in collaboration with Junior Cycle for Teachers and NEPS. This research project aimed to assist the Department in reviewing and planning for the needs of schools and centres for education in relation to the promotion of wellbeing nationally.

The research project was completed and evaluated in 2020. The evaluation informed a planned national roll-out of training and sustained support for all schools by the PDST. However, the roll-out of this training has been delayed due to COVID-19 and the associated cancellation of face-to-face training.

Inspection findings indicate that primary and post-primary schools are effective in promoting pupils’ and students’ wellbeing. The review of the Social Personal and Health Education curricula provides an opportunity to build on this good work

Schools play an important role in promoting and developing pupils’/students’ wellbeing and their socialisation, as well as their learning. At primary level, the overall findings from inspections in SPHE are positive. As reported in Chapter 4, inspectors reported positive findings in relation to wellbeing and the development of children’s understanding of personal safety and bullying. The findings from surveys administered to learners and parents during whole-school inspections at primary level from September 2016 to December 2020 indicated high levels of positivity in relation to key wellbeing indicators such as learners’ enjoyment school, feeling safe and cared for, and feeling that they are being treated with respect. At post-primary level, inspection findings (Chapter 5) indicated that students had high-quality learning experiences in PE and SPHE; experiences that are key to the maintenance and advancement of student wellbeing. The Framework for Junior Cycle (2015) provides for a new area of learning at Junior Cycle: Wellbeing. Also, the ongoing review of SPHE curricula provides an opportunity to strengthen an integrated approach to SPHE from primary through to Senior Cycle.

As outlined in Chapter 10, a focus on pupil and student wellbeing was an important element of the successful return to school for pupils and students after COVID-19.