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It was of course fanciful to consider this anything other than an ongoing project, with this picture from the penultimate week of the term in December illustrating the point: At lunchtime, one of our 17-year-old students was observed exultant, punching the air and high-fiving down the corridor. Had she just received a dream college offer or received wonderful feedback from a teacher? No, it turns out she had just found out that her parents would permit her to play for a school team that Friday evening, rather than study.
Seeing just how much this activity meant to her, and the known resultant positive effect that sport has on feelings of wellbeing, socialization, health and, ultimately, academic performance, there was something sad in the image. I certainly had feelings of failure in our attempts to balance this particular student's life, as I do for others where we have not managed to provide them with more meaningful personal control over their studies and activities.
So while we are proud of our many initiatives during the year of wellbeing 2018, including our 12 values focus months; parent workshops; senior students leading primary student wellbeing classes; and alternative fitness provisions like "couch to 5km," the challenge of shaping a fully supported and balanced education to all of our students goes on into 2019!
We are focusing on two particular aspects of Wellbeing this year ― both, I believe, applicable to the work environments in which The Korea Times readers are employed, as well as to schools. A warning, though: They both require deeper empathy for students' (or workers') lives, and the letting go of control in the classroom (or workplace).
The first approach is to look through a lens of wellbeing whenever making any decisions affecting students and staff. One example might be our tracking of students through an entire 24-hour period to assess just how their wellbeing is affected by our influence.
Let us start with evening homework: do students have opportunities to express themselves and take some individual control over tasks, or are these routine, dull, unchallenging and pointlessly time-consuming? Have we set an appropriate amount of work so they get to bed at a sensible hour providing them with at least eight hours of sleep? Do students feel good putting on the school uniform?
If not, because it does not fit well, we have started their day with a negative. Do all school staff greet students with a smile and provide a personalized welcome? Our current morning security guard certainly does to his great credit, but do all bus drivers, bus monitors, receptionists, caterers and teachers? Do students feel they are known as individuals and do they have at least one adult in school to whom they feel comfortable revealing personal fears?
The second focus for our "Year of Wellbeing 2019" is to provide students with greater control over how and what they learn. The term being adopted across the Dulwich group of schools for this approach is "agency": ensuring learning is more relevant to learners' interests, and more often shaped by them, under the expert guidance of teachers.
This approach has been demonstrated to raise self-motivation, deepen understanding and, ultimately, achievement. Through the loosening of control, feelings associated with wellbeing and commitment increase, including qualities such as positivity and loyalty. Are you willing, like us, to take the time to really know those who work for you, and trust them enough to allow more personalized (and productive) ways of working?
Graeme Salt (Headmaster@dulwich-seoul.kr)is the headmaster of Dulwich College Seoul, a part of the Dulwich College International (DCI) network of schools.
