Jean Gordon
EIESP
Secretariat, Learning for Well-being Consortium of Foundations
Joint workshop DGs Sanco & EAC 9/10/12

In this session I want to:
• Revisit some of the big issues facing health, the social sector and education
• Suggest principles for policy and action to address them
• Look at research that supports these principles
Presentation will draw on:
− Work for DG EAC on key competences http://ec.europa.eu/education/moreinformation/doc/keyreport_en.pdf / http://keyconet.eun.org/
− and on early childhood education and care (ECEC)
− Learning for well-being: Learning for Well-being; a policy priority for children and youth in Europe http://www.eiesp.org/site/pages/view/80-learning-for-well-beingconference-february.html
− Various European research projects and other sources …..
Joint workshop DGs Sanco & EAC 9/10/12

General agreement on goal such as:
Learning for Well-being is a global initiative of partners that work together on the process of how each child & young person learns to realise their unique potential.
http://www.learningforwellbeing.org/
Joint workshop DGs Sanco & EAC 9/10/12

In European policies & strategies:
Lisbon Treaty - article 2.1
“The Union's aim is to promote peace, its values and the wellbeing of its peoples,”
DG EAC: Improving Competences for the 21st Century (2008)
 Every young person should have the possibility of developing his/her full potential.
 Every learner’s needs differ. Every classroom is a place of diversity. No one size fits all.
 Holistic approach to learning – mind and body.
 Schools should promote the health and well-being of pupils and staff and active citizenship
Joint workshop DGs Sanco & EAC 9/10/12

In Member States curricula: e.g. Scotland
Joint workshop DGs Sanco & EAC 9/10/12

Students will be educated in tolerance and international co-operation.
Upper secondary school instruction is based on respect for life and
human rights.
General upper secondary education must promote open democracy,
equality and well-being.
Students are seen to be the constructors of their own learning,
competence and views of the world.
Instruction must take into account the fact that human beings observe
and analyse reality using all their senses.
Joint workshop DGs Sanco & EAC 9/10/12

• 1/5 children & adolescents suffer from developmental, emotional or behavioural problems
• Suicide is 1 of 3 most common causes of youth deaths
• Child poverty: 19% children in EU living in poverty or at risk of poverty
• Growing burden on child protection system - interventions being cut
• Youth unemployment
Remedies address the symptoms and not the root causes
Joint workshop DGs Sanco & EAC 9/10/12

• Education measures academic achievement, not holistic development.
• Key Competences: implementation & assessment
• Child-centred learning: class sizes, classrooms, assessment, biorhythms
• Overcrowded curricula
• Teachers: image, training & early career support
• Early school leaving – 13.5% 2012
• Links between disadvantage & low access to ECEC
Growing awareness of need to address issues through multi-sector, multi-agency approaches .
Joint workshop DGs Sanco & EAC 9/10/12

Learning for Well-being; a policy priority for children and youth in Europe
Principles for policy and action:
1. Learning for Well-being: A Process Approach
• Take the child’s perspective
• Encourage expression of each child’s unique potential
• Focus on strengths and inner differences
• Emphasise the nature and quality of relationships
• Be holistic
2. Measuring what matters
3. Children and youth are part of the policy process
4. Need all of society to contribute
5. Sectors working together in integrated, proactive, multidimensional approaches http://www.eiesp.org/hosting/a/admin/files/L4WB%20Documents%203Page.pdf
Joint workshop DGs Sanco & EAC 9/10/12

1. Learning for Well-being: take the child’s perspective; encourage expression of each child’s unique potential; focus on strengths & inner differences; nature & quality of relationships; be holistic
- Rights-based approach: Education shall be directed to: the development of the child's personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential; (UNCRC Art 29)
Neuroscience & learning: mind & body, role of emotions learning
Role of Early Childhood Education & Care, e.g. ISSA quality principles http://www.issa.nl/qrp.html
Child-centred approaches
Building key capacities and competences
Joint workshop DGs Sanco & EAC 9/10/12

All that individuals need for personal fulfillment and development, active citizenship, social inclusion and employment.
EU framework:
Communication in the mother tongue
Communication in a foreign language
Mathematical competence and basic competence in science and technology
Digital competence
Learning to learn
Social and civic competence
Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship
Cultural awareness and expression.
Joint workshop DGs Sanco & EAC 9/10/12

• engages learners to build on prior learning & life experiences
• organise one's own learning
• identifying available opportunities
• ability to overcome obstacles in order to learn successfully
• motivation & confidence are crucial to an individual's competence.
• awareness of one's learning process & needs
Joint workshop DGs Sanco & EAC 9/10/12

• personal, interpersonal & intercultural competence
• all forms of behaviour that equip individuals to participate in social & working life
• emphasises increasingly diverse societies
• includes capacity to resolve conflict where necessary & participate in civic life
• commitment to active & democratic participation.
Joint workshop DGs Sanco & EAC 9/10/12

“a child needs to understand her own feelings in order to recognize
those in others”
(Clouder, Botin Foundation, 2008 & 2011 http://www.fundacionbotin.org/international-analysis_botinplatform_education.htm
)
“School must first help them [children & young people] discover who they are. Only then will they genuinely be able to put themselves in other people’s shoes and understand their reactions. Developing empathy at school bears fruit in terms of social behaviour throughout life.”
Learning the Treasure Within, UNESCO, 1996
Issue: balance between school achievement and a whole child approach
Joint workshop DGs Sanco & EAC 9/10/12

What do we know?
EU countries cover a broad variety of skills, competences, values, themes, etc.
Following aspects less present:
Need for students to understand about how one learns best, individual learning patterns & preferences.
Little reference to the need to develop a sense of self and of understanding of self. Main references: interpersonal skills/competences.
Teachers’ own competence development .
Health Literacy
Joint workshop DGs Sanco & EAC 9/10/12

2. Measuring what matters
• Formal education measures academic attainment
• Assessment systems often in contradiction with child-centred learning & teaching
• More equitable societies = better outcomes
• How can we assess the overall holistic development of children?
• The child’s perspective on education / health /social services, etc.
Joint workshop DGs Sanco & EAC 9/10/12

3. Children and youth are part of the policy process
What do we know?
UNCRC Article 12 “children have their voice heard and are listened to seriously and are able to influence decisions affecting them” .
Children defining well-being: agency, security, positive sense of self (Fattore, Mason &
Watson http://www.springerlink.com/content/xg3847435721v946/
)
Children in vulnerable situations are too rarely asked to give their opinion (Speak Up!,
Eurochild http://www.eurochild.org/en/policy-action/speakup/index.html
).
Competences & capabilities for social trust: school is the only institution that can provide the appropriate experience of a democratic life to all members of society (W. Edelstein,
Education for Democracy: reasons and strategies, European Journal of Education, vol. 46, no. 1 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ejed.2011.46.issue-1/issuetoc
Nurturing schools as learning communities: engagement, participation (Includ-ed http://creaub.info/included/
)
Joint workshop DGs Sanco & EAC 9/10/12

4. & 5. Need all of society to contribute / integrated, proactive, multidimensional approaches
− Children don’t grow up in silos (Eurochild http://www.eurochild.org/ )
− Multi-agency approaches addressing disadvantage and early school leaving
− Obstacles to sectors working together
− Partnerships created between schools, authorities & families to better support children's learning (Include-ed).
Joint workshop DGs Sanco & EAC 9/10/12

• Consider children as competent partners, nurturing personal responsibility more than compliance
• Understand learning not only as cognitive, but as an integral process with many dimensions
• Move from disease and treatment centred healthcare to promoting health and well-being
• Move from standardized education to child-centred education
• Move from sectoral to systemic solutions in policy and society http://www.eiesp.org/hosting/a/admin/files/L4WB%20A%20Policy%20Priority%
20for%20Children%20%26%20Youth%20in%20Europe.pdf
Joint workshop DGs Sanco & EAC 9/10/12

Focus on the whole child : focus on learning work-in-progress
Joint workshop DGs Sanco & EAC 9/10/12

How can we move forward?
What changes & improvements by 2030 for children born in
2012?
• Aspirational document & website - long-term perspective
• Set of benchmarks to measure & assess progress over time across all key policy areas.
• Supported by a collective & inclusive approach - consultation
• Draws on best of existing expertise from different sectors (health, education, social welfare, media & culture)
• Supported by identifying, recognising and celebrating examples of positive policies, innovations & practices across Europe which apply the principles of the charter.
• Involvement of children & young people throughout the process
Please join us!

European Institute of Education and Social Policy www.eiesp.org
Learning for Well-being Consortium of Foundations http://www.eiesp.org/site/pages/view/60-learningfor-well-being-consortium.html
Joint workshop DGs Sanco & EAC 9/10/12