Health and Wellbeing

Health and Wellbeing

Health and Wellbeing is considered as being a fundamental area that is essential when teaching children in both in and out of school- it is an important aspect of life.
There are a lot of issues young children face today in Wales, in which Successful Futures by Sir Graham Donaldson is wishing to tackle within the new curriculum.
Within Donaldson’s 4 purposes of the curriculum, one of his focuses is based on the children’s health and wellbeing. What he ensures in the new curriculum are as follows:
“Healthy, confident individuals who: have secured values and are establishing their spiritual and ethical beliefs- are building their metal and emotional wellbeing by developing confidence, resilience and empathy- apply knowledge about the impact of diet and exercise om physical and mental health in their daily lives- know how to find the information and support to keep safe and well- take part in physical activity- take measured decisions about lifestyle and manage risk, have the confidence to participate in performance- formed positive relationships based upon trust and mutual respect- face and overcome challenge- have the skills and knowledge to manage every day life as independently as they can and are ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.” (Donaldson, 2015, p.30)

Although the health and wellbeing of a child is one of the four purposes of the curriculum, it also falls as one of the six areas of learning, which as a whole focuses on tackling obesity, relationships and sexual education.
This area of learning draws on subjects and themes from PE, mental, physical and emotional wellbeing, sex and relationships, parenting, healthy eating and cooking, substance misuse, work related working and experience and learning for life. Additionally, it is concerned with how the school environment supports children and young people’s social, emotional, spiritual and physical health and wellbeing, through for example, its climate and relationships, the food it provides, its joint working with other relevant services such as health and social work and the access it provides to physical activity (Donaldson, 2015, p.45).

Making links across the Curriculum
This idea will ensure that teachers will be able to make strong connections between the Health and Wellbeing Area of Learning and Experience and the Expressive Arts and Language, Literacy and Communication, (for example, the exploration of relationships through drama and literature), Humanities, (for example, ethical matters, informed by RE), and Science and Technology, (for example, nutrition, reproduction) Areas of Learning and Experience.

Tackling National Issues

• Young people are increasingly subject to performativity expectations in society within the Totally Pedagogised Society. (Bernstein, 2011; Evans et all 2008)
• Governments, media and other agencies often promote visions of physical perfection, instrumentalization, and Forms of Perfection (Evans et al, 2008), which individuals are expected to ‘work on’ relentlessly

Not just PE!!!!
Pedagogy not only pervades every aspect of life (for example, media websites, television, playgrounds, family, doctors’ surgeries, etc.), but features throughout one’s lifetime.
Preparing children for the future:

• Young people comparing themselves to models on Instagram
• Filtered images, have had work done (eg. botox, lip fillers, etc.), or steroids = this isn’t a healthy comparison.

Mental Health

• 1 in 10 children have a diagnosable mental health disorder- which acquaints to 3 children in every classroom
• 1 in 5 adults have a diagnosable mental health disorder
• Half of all mental health problems manifest by the age of 14, with 75% by the age of 24
• 1 in 4 children show some evidence of mental health (including anxiety and depression
• Suicide is the most common cause of death for boys between the ages of 5 and 19 and the second most common for girls at the same age
• 1 in 12 people self-harm at some point in their lives, however girls are considered as being more likely to doing so
• (Young Minds, 2017)

 

During one of our lectures, Nant Yr Parc Primary School came into our lecture, whereby we focused on the health and wellbeing of the children as a whole. It was interesting to see what that particular school had put in place with regards to their pupil’s health and wellbeing. One thing which I found extremely interesting was that all of the children were beginning to wear slippers into schools. Throughout their research, their feedback focuses on all of the positives of this idea. They suggested that children felt more comfortable in their slippers, as they felt more at home as opposed to wearing normal school shoes. This was done as a trial run and it will be interesting to get back into contact with that school to see if they have made any progress. If this is a beneficial way for children to feel more relaxed, then as a year group it would be a nice idea to encourage other schools to do the same.

 

References

Evans, J., Davies, B., and Wright, J. (2004). Body Knowledge and Control: Studies in the Sociology of Physical Education and Health. London: Routledge.

Evans, J., and Rich, E. (2011). Body policies and body pedagogies: every child matters in totally pedagogised schools? Journal of Education Policy, 26(3). 361-379

Donaldson, G. (2015) Successful Futures: Independent review of curriculum and assessment

arrangements
in Wales,
retrieved:http://gov.wales/docs/dcells/publications/150225-successful-Futures-en.pdf