Jenny Murray, Co-Director of the Centre for Wellbeing in Education (CWE) at St Mary’s University, reflects on the launch of the centre and the excitement of sowing seeds for new ways of thinking about wellbeing.
The metaphor of teacher as gardener is not new – as educators we often reflect on the conditions needed to support learners to grow. Much like successful gardeners tending to plants or flowers, we recognise the uniqueness of the students we work with and are regularly inspired by the diversity of their strengths and successes. In lectures for primary education trainees, I often use a creative thinking discussion framework entitled ‘I see, I think, I wonder’ through which students explore a photograph and make observations, offer reflections, and pose questions with their peers.
As we launched the CWE and a cheerful wildflower image from our St Mary’s campus was chosen for our website, I was struck by the relevance of this familiar metaphor to our plans for the new centre. So, how does a seemingly chaotic patch of wildflowers connect to a research centre which aims to make rigorous contributions to the field of education? A moment arose for me to see, think and wonder myself!
I see...Something different each time I look and quite possibly something different to what you see.
Defining wellbeing is a well-documented challenge in research (McCallum et al., 2017; Wigford and Higgins, 2019; Graham and Truscott, 2019) and often a thought-provoking conversation in practice. As a broad, complex concept, wellbeing evolves and changes – we are reminded by research (Brown and Shay, 2021; Education Support, 2023) and our own personal lived experiences that external, environmental factors can have hugely detrimental or enriching impact on us as individuals and communities. This sense of fluidity, subjectivity, and need for adaptability in relation to defining wellbeing emerged both in our internal and external launch meetings for the new CWE. I noticed that our broad objectives of focusing on children and young people, educators in schools and students and staff in universities was interpreted in different ways. Proactive approaches to promoting wellbeing, community responses, risk factors, and collective responsibilities emerged as themes and all interconnected. It is from these rich and diverse multiple perspectives that there is hope for sustainable growth and change as we continue to ask, answer, and reshape questions about wellbeing in education. The distinctly personal nature of protective factors for wellbeing are also well-represented by our wildflower image. There is no one-size-fits-all answer; while high-impact exercise in a group might be one person’s go-to way to wellbeing, another person might thrive and recharge with a quiet, meditative moment of solitude and stillness. As diverse as the practical strategies are, so too are the wellbeing challenges which are being navigated by each person around us. No two wildflowers in that patch are the same but they all contribute something to the field in which they grow!
I think... growth takes time and sometimes isn’t obvious.
As a primary teacher, I’m used to having to respond quickly, show evidence of change, and demonstrate progress. The slow growth of the wildflowers is a pertinent reminder to me that wellbeing work through the CWE is a marathon not a sprint! Reflecting on my own approach to working with schools, I recognise the fine line between enthusiasm and over-stretching, and agree with the recent EEF (2024) recommendations that implementation of change requires strategy and pace to be sustainable. Meaningful change takes time and often progress is made in incremental steps which aren’t always noticeable. As we launched the CWE, the voices of experienced educators, researchers, and wellbeing practitioners reminded me of the value of a slow and steady approach to launching and sustaining wellbeing initiatives through the centre. Each flower in that patch grows at a different pace and the tallest, brightest ones aren’t necessarily the best!
I wonder... how powerful the collective minds within the CWE can be?
In our launch events we were joined by colleagues from schools, colleges, universities, charities, healthcare, outreach, student support, and widening participation. Attendees for our launch webinar spanned continents and showed a collective enthusiasm, determination and commitment to exploring ways to promote and protect wellbeing in education. Similarly, it is the wildness of the wildflowers, their uniqueness and collective impact which makes them striking! Within the CWE we recognise the growing need for research, practice, and professional learning opportunities, but also the collective experience and expertise of our colleagues.
As we have now sown the seeds for new thinking to develop, we look forward to developing the CWE and enhancing its potential for impact on wellbeing in education. If you would like to get involved in the CWE community, follow us on X @CWEStMary’s and register for one of our upcoming events.
References
Brown, C., & Shay, M. (2021). From resilience to wellbeing: Identity-building as an alternative framework for schools’ role in promoting children’s mental health . Review of Education, 9(2), 599-634.
Education Endowment Foundation (2024). A School’s Guide to Implementation Guidance Report. May 2024.
Education Support (2023). Teacher Wellbeing Index. Education Support. November 2023.
Graham, A., & Truscott, J. (2019). Meditation in the classroom: Supporting both student and teacher wellbeing? International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education, 48(7), 807-819.
McCallum, F., Price, D., Graham, A., & Morrison, A. (2017). Teacher wellbeing: A review of the literature. The Association of Independent Schools of NSW Ltd.
Wigford, A., & Higgins, A. (2019). Wellbeing in international schools: Teachers' perceptions. Educational and Child Psychology, 36(4), 46-64.