Around this time of year, amidst the chaos of Term 4, we start to think about 2025. Enrolment numbers, staffing, classrooms, programs and …budgets.
We recognise that our teachers are just hanging in there and that implementing anything new might just tip them over the edge. So, we make promises to ourselves that next year we will narrow the focus and do fewer things, but do them well.
We start by looking at this year’s plan and reviewing our progress. What are going to keep? Chuck? Change? And with one fell swoop we agree that we need to continue to focus on Literacy, Numeracy, Attendance, Behaviour, Equity and Wellbeing and we quickly realise that we need to keep most of the things, we can’t chuck many of the things and we don’t have the time or capacity to change anything.
But all is not lost!
Well, when it comes to wellbeing at least. Here are a few tips to support you plan wellbeing initiatives in 2025.
Tip 1: Look in the cupboard first
Look in the cupboard before you go to the shops is an old maxim. It means using what you have before buying something new. In a wellbeing/school planning context, it means considering what is already happening before jumping on the next shiny new program. Are the programs you running working? If so, how well? And for whom? If not, why not? How do you know this?
If these questions are hard to answer then, the first step in your 2025 plan is to measure what you are already doing. You need the answers to these questions to inform decisions about any changes you are considering making.
Tip 2: Measure what you value, don’t value what you measure
Due to the business of school life, we often don’t have the time to think about evaluation and quality measurement. This is especially true in the wellbeing space. Often when I work with schools or jurisdictions on strategic planning in the wellbeing space, the programs they are implementing do not align with the measures they have in place. For example, in one school I have worked closely with, they have an amazing resilience program in place which has pride of place in the school plan but when I look at the ‘improvement measures’, indicators of success, they are ‘increased attendance rates’, ‘decreased negative behaviour incidents’ and results from an anonymous survey of half the school. Clearly, the school values building student resilience but confusingly measures attendance and behaviour. So, the tip here is that if something is worth doing in 2025, it is probably worth measuring.
Tip 3: Focus on the processes, not the outcomes
It is easy to get caught in target setting at school planning time. We are at 67% so next year our target is 72%. Once we are at 72% we will adjust our target to 77%. You know the pattern – this at times is described as ‘continuous improvement’. This is a dangerous approach in wellbeing. We certainly want our students to be happy but I wouldn’t recommend setting a goal of 100% of students happy 100% of the time because that is unrealistic. I don’t think I would trust a principal who told me they had attained 1005 happiness in 2024. So, what to do then? Set lower expectations for happiness? 30% of students happy 100% of the time or maybe 100% of students happy 30% of the time?
Once you get to the point that you are making subjective judgements about quantitative targets you are on a pretty slippery slope. Even if you set these targets, the process of measuring them can undermine the results, particularly if there is an incentive to hit them (or as is more regular in many education systems, a consequence for missing them).
Instead, focus on your processes. Accept that any student on any given day can have wellbeing needs and focus on the processes in place to support them. How would we know that a student has a wellbeing need? How do we support it? How do we support teachers get this information without adding to their already overloaded workload? Set targets that focus on enhancing the reliability, efficiency and reliability of your processes. 100% of students can’t be happy 100% of the time but 100% of students can be supported 100% of the time.
Conclusion
Measuring wellbeing is a complex task that requires a holistic approach. By combining traditional methods with more innovative approaches, educators can gain a deeper understanding of students' experiences and develop targeted interventions to promote their overall health and happiness. By prioritising wellbeing, schools can create a positive and supportive learning environment that benefits students, teachers, and the entire community.
[ Rydr Tracy is the Head of Education at Life Skills Group and former Director of Strategic Priorities at CESE. He is a specialist in evidence-informed practice in educational innovation, with a career focus on strategic change that improves student outcomes. He draws on a rare blend of successful experience in schools, system leadership roles and industry practice – experience that has given him a deep understanding of the complexities of the education sector from the classroom to the boardroom and a demonstrated capacity to generate practical recommendations that are grounded in context and evidence. ]
