Student wellbeing: A feeling or a measure

Student wellbeing is not an exact science, but it is at the core of what schools are all about. Yet what is it exactly?

In my four decades in education the term “student wellbeing” has been used extensively, so much so it has probably been used to cover almost everything that a student does at school. A number of education departments have mandated that schools have a student wellbeing program. Yet, in my travels assisting schools across Australasia, I saw a growing number of them dumping their pastoral care programs because their staff don’t feel confident or capable of teaching them.

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While there is always a February honeymoon when it all goes well, the inevitable busyness of competing demands in schools takes over, priorities change, and the programs at best are delivered in a mediocre manner and at worst not at all. With these realities in play, well over a decade ago I began a journey to support teachers and schools.

If schools are to be successful in making a positive difference to students’ wellbeing, their focus needs to be narrowed. After researching, I decided to use the following definition for student wellbeing: The degree to which a student is functioning effectively in the school community. (from Julian Fraillon, Measuring Student Well-Being in the Australian Schooling: Discussion Paper).

In writing my Learning Curve Wellbeing program, the definition enabled me to focus on desirable student behaviours and dispositions. This, in turn, led to categorising them under three main areas:

Living – nurturing in students positive growth mindsets for life through cultivating social emotional intelligences involving self awareness, self control, self motivation, empathy and managing relationships.

Learning – explicitly teaching students how to learn through the building of an array of learning approaches, study skills, multiple intelligences and arousing curiosity and a love of learning.

Thinking – explicitly teaching students how to think creatively and critically through Habits of Mind and using higher-order thinking strategies and tools.

The next step

Once I settled on a definition, the second vexing issue with student wellbeing was assessing how well a student was functioning effectively. How could these desirable student behaviours be accurately measured?

Schools often consider a plethora of indicators, including:

Attendance and punctuality Behaviour tracking records Contribution to school life
Participation in learning
Submitting assignments
Completing home learning Academic progress

Teachers had their own perspectives on indicators and gave each different weights. This led to teachers arriving anecdotally at a “feeling” about a student’s wellbeing. The reality was and still is that assessing student wellbeing comes from an individual gut feeling rather than through looking at qualitative and quantitative data.

It was important to create student wellbeing measurement tools so that students and teachers could actually measure wellbeing. Schools needed to know if their wellbeing program was making a difference. I created tools for teachers and students.

I created the components of student wellbeing necessary for a student to function effectively:

Self-management and direction
Self-belief and resilience
Social emotional intelligence
Relationships and acceptance
Communication and expression
Engagement and curiosity
Learning, thinking and study
Note taking and presentation
Manners and courtesy
Citizenship and purpose

For each component, I created four behaviour descriptors: excellent, good, fair, and in need of attention. These levels were then allocated a numerical score 4, 3, 2 or 1.

Teachers could then use the descriptors for each component to rate a student numerically and then tally up the scores. The student’s wellbeing could be categorized as very healthy, healthy, OK, fair, need to focus and time to concentrate. I provide growth strategies for each component.

Looking at the overall score, schools can gauge how well their wellbeing program is performing and what components are in need of attention.

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Mick Walsh


Mick Walsh is the author of Australasia’s leading student wellbeing program, the Learning Curve Living, Learning and Thinking program. The program is also extensively used in International schools across the globe. He is a former college leader who now coaches schools on how to deliver the highest quality wellbeing program and he also presents at numerous conferences. Contact Mick Walsh on the website www. learningcurveplanner.com.au or via email mickwalsh54@bigpond.com .