1. Ways to Wellbeing and a HappyWays to Wellbeing and a Happy
PlanetPlanet
CPD developed by Clive Belgeonne
Development Education Centre South Yorkshire (DECSY)
clive@decsy.org.uk
www.sealgd.org.uk
2. Aims
Examine links between wellbeing, happiness,
equality and sustainability in the context of the SEAL
(Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning)
curriculum
Become familiar with Five Ways to Wellbeing and
the Happy Planet index and adapt them for use in
your Curriculum, Campus and Community context.
3. What’s behind the advert?
In groups, look at the advert given to you
Note down what message you think the advert is giving
to the viewer / consumer: this may be literal and / or
implied.
Who is the advert aimed at?
What are the assumptions and implications behind the
imagery and wording?
10. SEAL and Happiness (Primary)
I feel good about the things I do well, and accept myself for who
and what I am.
I can recognise when I am becoming overwhelmed by my
feelings.
I have a range of strategies for managing my worries and other
uncomfortable feelings.
I can change the way I feel by reflecting on my experiences and
reviewing the way I think about them.
I know what makes me feel good, that this is more than
material things, and I know how to enhance these comfortable
feelings.
11. SEAL and Happiness (Secondary)
I can reflect critically on the factors which influence and
determine the quality of my life.
I know what makes me feel good that this is more than material
things and know how to help myself have a good time (e.g. to feel
calm, elated, energised, focused, engaged, have fun, etc.) – in ways
that are not damaging to myself and others.
I have a range of strategies to reduce, manage or change strong and
uncomfortable feelings such as anger, anxiety, stress and jealousy.
I can view errors as part of the normal learning process, and bounce
back from disappointment or failure.
I can identify barriers to achieving a goal and identify how I am going
to overcome them.
I have a range of strategies for helping me to feel and remain
optimistic, approaching new tasks in a positive frame of mind
12. Meaning + Links
Wellbeing: a good or satisfactory condition of
existence; a state characterized by health,
happiness, and prosperity; welfare
Happiness: the quality or state of being happy;
good fortune; pleasure; contentment; joy; a deep
sense of flourishing
Equality: the state or quality of being equal;
correspondence in quantity, degree, value, rank, or
ability.
Sustainability: capable of being continued with
minimal long-term effect on the environment
13. Department of Education Definition: Wellbeing
(a) physical and mental health and emotional well-
being;
(b) protection from harm and neglect;
(c) education, training and recreation;
(d) the contribution made by him to society; social
and economic well-being.
Section 38(1) of the 2006 Education and Inspections Act defines well-being in terms of
the matters mentioned in section 10 (2) of the Children Act 2004
SCHOOLS’ ROLE IN PROMOTING PUPIL WELL-BEING, DCSF 2009
14. Department of Education Definition: Wellbeing
“Well-being in these terms translates into the five
Every Child Matters outcomes that children should
be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a
positive contribution and enjoy economic well-
being, which schools are already inspected against
by Ofsted.”
“The school’s distinctive contribution to well-being is
in excellent, personalised teaching and learning,
ensuring all children achieve to their full potential. “
SCHOOLS’ ROLE IN PROMOTING PUPIL WELL-BEING, DCSF 2009
15. What things in life matter to you?
What is well-being?
• health
• good connections with friends and family
• good connections with a spouse or partner
• job satisfaction and economic security
• present and future conditions of the
environment
Measuring what matters Office of National Statistics 2011
16. Enabling
conditions
Psychological
resources
Functioning well
and satisfaction
of needs
Experience
of life
e.g. to be
autonomous,
competent, and
connected to others
e.g. resilience,
optimism, self-esteem
e.g. opportunities and
obstacles,
inequalities, social
norms, culture
e.g. happiness,
satisfaction, interest,
boredom and distress
Happiness?
www.neweconomics.org
17.
18. Striving for self-esteem through material wealth is
not the answer, but other vital factors are.
Subjective well-being depends critically on family stability,
friendship and the strength of community. But these aspects
of life have suffered in the consumer society. Family
breakdown, for example, has increased by almost 400% in
the United Kingdom since 1950. […] In other words, there
appears to be a correlation between rising consumption
and the erosion of things that make people happy –
particularly social relationships
The challenge of sustainable ifestyles Tim Jackson, 2008
19. Where does our wellbeing come from?
Genes and Upbringing: 50% - ‘Influence by our parents’
Interaction between genetic predispositions and our upbringing
and environment
Life circumstances: 10% - ‘Influence by circumstances’
Income, material possessions, marital status, neighbourhood
(adapt to changes quickly)
Intentional activities: 40% - Influence by activities & outlook’
Working towards goals, socialising, exercising, doing meaningful
work, cognitive activity, savouring life (varied)
A wellbeing manifesto for a flourishing society NEF 2004
20. Question Primary School
% ‘Strongly agreeing’
Secondary School
% ‘Strongly agreeing’
I learn a lot at school 71% 18%
School is interesting 65% 12%
I enjoy school activities 65% 18%
Wellbeing pilot project questionnaire 1,000 young people Nottingham
City Council
A wellbeing manifesto for a flourishing society NEF 2004
21. Schools promoting emotional, social and physical well-
being.
“The purpose of the education system should be explicitly to
promote individual and societal well-being both now, and
in the future. It should aim to create capable and
emotionally well-rounded young people who are happy
and motivated. To this end, all schools should have a
strategy to promote emotional, social and physical well-
being. This is not just about rethinking the curriculum –
important as that is. This should be a ‘whole school’
approach which considers a range of matters including
the school culture and environment, giving pupils a say,
the methods of teaching and assessment, and school
governance.”
A wellbeing manifesto for a flourishing society NEF 2004
22. Happy Planet Index
Shows the relative efficiency with which nations convert the
planet’s natural resources into long and happy lives for their
citizens.
Nations that score well show that achieving, long, happy lives
without over-stretching the planet’s resources is possible.
High levels of resource consumption do not reliably produce
high levels of well-being
There are different routes to achieving comparable levels of
well-being.
The model followed by the West can provide widespread
longevity and variable life satisfaction, but it does so only at a
vast and ultimately counter-productive cost in terms of
resource consumption.
www.happyplanetindex.org
23. Happy Planet Index Calculation
Life expectancy: Average life expectancy at birth taken
from the UN Human Development Index
Life satisfaction: Asks how satisfied people are with
their lives on a numerical scale from 0 (low) to 10
(high), in Gallup ‘World Poll’
Ecological Footprint: measures how much land and
water area a human population requires to produce the
resource it consumes and to absorb its wastes, using
prevailing technology.
28. Child Well-being is Better in More Equal Rich Countries
Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009) www.equalitytrust.org.uk
29. Levels of Trust are Higher in More Equal Rich Countries
www.equalitytrust.org.uk
Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009)
30. More Equal Countries Rank Better (1 is best) on Recycling
Source: Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009) www.equalitytrust.org.uk
31. Inequality and Sustainability
Consumerism is one of the greatest threats to sustainability
Because inequality increases status competition, it also increases
consumerism. People in more unequal societies work longer hours because
money seems even more important.
Concern for the common good is a crucial resource if we are to reduce
carbon emissions
Because inequality harms the quality of social relations (increasing violence,
reducing trust, cohesion and involvement in community life), people become
more self-interested, less public spirited, less concerned with the common
good. This is shown in the amount of overseas aid countries give, in the
proportion of waste recycled, in how countries score on the global peace
index, and in how important business leaders think it is that their
governments abide by international environmental agreements.
www.equalitytrust.org.uk
33. Five ways to well-being
Connect…
With the people around you. With family, friends,
colleagues and neighbours. At home, work, school or in
your local community. Think of these as the cornerstones
of your life and invest time in developing them. Building
these connections will support and enrich you every day.
www.neweconomics.org
34. Five ways to well-being
Be active…
Go for a walk or run. Step outside. Cycle. Play a game.
Garden. Dance. Exercising makes you feel good. Most
importantly, discover a physical activity you enjoy and that
suits your level of mobility and fitness.
www.neweconomics.org
35. Five ways to well-being
Take notice…
Be curious. Catch sight of the beautiful. Remark on the
unusual. Notice the changing seasons. Savour the moment,
whether you are walking to work, eating lunch or talking to
friends. Be aware of the world around you and what you
are feeling. Reflecting on your experiences will help you
appreciate what matters to you.
www.neweconomics.org
36. Five ways to well-being
Keep learning…
Try something new. Rediscover an old interest. Sign up for
that course. Take on a different responsibility at work. Fix a
bike. Learn to play an instrument or how to cook your
favourite food. Set a challenge you will enjoy achieving.
Learning new things will make you more confident as well
as being fun.
www.neweconomics.org
37. Five ways to well-being
Give…
Do something nice for a friend, or a stranger. Thank
someone. Smile. Volunteer your time. Join a community
group. Look out, as well as in. Seeing yourself, and your
happiness, linked to the wider community can be incredibly
rewarding and creates connections with the people around
you.
www.neweconomics.org
38. School as centre of WellbeingSchool as centre of Wellbeing
Sustainable Schools strategy (DCSF 2008)
40. Global manifesto for a happier planet
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Improve healthcare.
3. Relieve debt.
4. Shift values.
5. Support meaningful lives.
6. Empower people and promote good governance.
7. Identify environmental limits and design economic policy
to work within them.
8. Design systems for sustainable consumption and
production.
9. Work to tackle climate change.
10. Measure what matters.
www.happyplanetindex.org
42. If our prosperity is tied to the health of the planet, then no
one’s well-being is secure unless the
environment is protected. If we cannot prosper in a
world that suffers from poverty, inequality, war and poor
health, then our future is intimately bound up in
the future of other people and places.
Sustainable development means inspiring people in all
parts of the world to find solutions that improve their
quality of life without storing up problems for the
future, or impacting unfairly on other people’s
lives. It must be much more than recycling bottles or
giving money to charity. It is about thinking and
working in a profoundly different way.
DfES Sustainable Schools Consultation Response 2006
43. Websites:
www.education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/policiesandprocedures/a0070736/sd
DfE (Department for Education, England) What is sustainable
development?
www.equalitytrust.org.uk Equality Trust
www.happyplanetindex.org Happy Planet Index
www.neweconomics.org New Economics Foundation
www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/user-guidance/well-
being/index.html Office of National Statistics: National Well-being –
Measuring what matters
www.polyp.org.uk Polyp’s cartoons
www.sealgd.org.uk SEAL and the Global Dimension
http://se-ed.co.uk SEEd (Sustainability and Environmental Education)
www.teaching4abetterworld.co.uk Teaching for a Better World
44. Bibliography
DCSF (Department of Children, Schools and Families, England) SCHOOLS’ ROLE IN PROMOTING PUPIL WELL-BEING,
2009
HH Dalai Lama & Cutler, Howard The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living Coronet books 1998
Foley, Michael The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes it Hard to be Happy Simon and Schuster 2010
Layard, Richard Happiness: Lessons from a New Science Penguin 2005
Marks, Nic The Power of Well-being: Transforming public health policy,17th
November 2008, Living Well West Midlands,
Centre for Wellbeing, New Economics Foundation www.livingwellwestmidlands.org/downloads/PowerofWellbeing.ppt
NEF A wellbeing manifesto for a flourishing society 2004 http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/well-being-manifesto-
flourishing-society
Ricard, Mathieu Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill Atlantic Books 2007
Wilkinson, Richard & Pickett, Kate The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone Penguin 2010
Hicks, D. (2010) The long transition: educating for optimism and hope in troubled times
www.teaching4abetterworld.co.uk./downloads.html
Orr, D. (2009) Down to the Wire: Confronting climate collapse, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Seligman, M (2006) Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life (New York: Vintage)
Editor's Notes
Originally piloted by Rob Unwin (DECSY) at the National Sustainable Schools Conference 2010
In terms of the national Sustainable Schools framework, this workshop links mainly Local Wellbeing, one of the 8 ‘Doorways’, but will make links from the local to the global. The Five Ways and the HPI have been developed by the New Economics Foundation (NEF)
Use three to five good adverts
The SEAL and the Global Dimension project is bringing the eight key concepts of the global dimension together with the five domains of Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning.
SEAL Learning Outcomes address issues to do with feeling good and dealing with worries. SEAL Global had added in an awareness that feeling good is about more than material things. The issue of happiness and wellbeing is not explicitly addressed in SEAL. The recognition that you can change the way you feel by reflecting on your experiences begins to get at the heart of recent understanding about happiness (which Buddhists have known for some time) that we have experiences and emotions but we can decide whether we frame them as positive or negative. The premise of this workshop is that teachers need to understand more explicitly the links between happiness and wellbeing, and the further links with equality and sustainability.
The need to reflect critically on issues of quality of life and recognising that feeling good is about more than material things enables discussion of issues around wellbeing and happiness, moving beyond standard of living and levels of consumption. The other Learning Outcomes mentioned here touch on issues of resilience and what Martin Seligman calls 'flexible optimism' i.e. optimists with their eyes open, aware of the 'reality check' that pessimistic thoughts can bring, but able to remain positive. David Orr (2009) takes this further using the phrases 'realistic' or authentic' 'hope', which he says is made of sterner stuff than optimism, the "ability to handle hard truth gracefully without despairing...Hope requires the courage to reach farther, dig deeper, confront our limits and those of nature, and work harder.”
Definitions quite basic. Taken from dictionary.com Could ask participants to write four words on piece of paper and show links between them, or do so verbally in pairs / groups.
Schools have duty (non-statutory?) to report on wellbeing. Research for DCSF ( What do we mean by ‘wellbeing’? And why might it matter? Linguistic Landscapes 2008) shows that the term is contested and poorly understood by parents and pupils – I would argue teachers as well. The report recommends spelling the term as wellbeing, without hyphen or capitalisation. It also notes the term has no opposite.
Wellbeing extends beyond teaching and learning to how the 5 ECM outcomes are applied in a joined up manner
Most common answers from a preselected list as part of a national debate on ‘What matters to you?’ 26 Nov 2010 to 15 April 2011 in response to invitation by Prime Minister David Cameron for the Office of National Statistics to develop measures of national well-being and progress. There were 34,000 responses via events and online. “ What is National Well-being? The well-being of the nation is influenced by a broad range of factors including economic performance, quality of life, the state of the environment, sustainability, equality, as well as individual well-being. Measuring ‘how a country is doing’ has until now largely rested on traditional economic measures such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP). But economists and statisticians have always acknowledged that GDP does not capture everything that determines society’s well-being and was not designed to do so. For example, fuel consumed in traffic jams adds to GDP but is unlikely to increase well-being; the environment and skills of the nation’s workers are important determinants of a nation’s future economic well-being but are not adequately represented by existing economic statistics.” Measuring National Well-being: Life in the UK, 2012 ONS
Could do activity asking groups to put arrows into the diagram and / or fill in speech bubble areas. Taken from presentation: The Power of Well-being: Transforming public health policy, 17 th November 2008 , Living Well West Midlands, Nic Marks, Centre for Wellbeing, New Economics Foundation (downloaded from web)
Shows increasing GDP from 70s to 00s but no increase in life satisfaction. Depression has increased significantly in ‘developed’ countries over last 50 years. (NEF Wellbeing manifesto)
This is taken from David Hicks’ book Sustainable Schools, Sustainable Futures (WWF 2012) which is very practical and inspiring; available to download at www.teaching4abetterworld.co.uk his very useful website, making accessible his wealth of expertise to better understand and engage with global learning and sustainable futures.
As a society spend disproportionate amount of time focussed on second Life Circumstances - issue is that people adapt to changes in circumstances quite quickly, so they have only a small influence on our happiness. Adaptation rarely occurs to Intentional Activities as they are impermanent or can be infinitely varied. This is the area where we can make the most difference to our wellbeing. As educators / a society we need to try and ensure that all children have a positive start in their upbringing and then are able to set themselves meaningful goals and are able to savour life.
(Figure 3, page 12) The pilot project data showed that not only did both young people’s satisfaction with life and their curiosity in life (a proxy measure for personal development) both fall as they got older, but also their satisfaction with their school experience plummeted between primary and secondary school, and did not recover. 32 per cent of the young people surveyed were at the very least unhappy and could be at the risk of mental health problems.
The NEF wellbeing manifesto fully endorses a whole-school approach to social and emotional learning impacting on the school culture and environment.
The nations that top the Index aren’t the happiest places in the world, but the nations that score well show that achieving, long, happy lives without over-stretching the planet’s resources is possible.
Many of the richer, ‘developed’ nations may score well on life expectancy and quite highly on life satisfaction, but most have heavy ecological footprints, indicating that their ‘happiness’ is achieved at others expense.
Average life expectancy at birth taken from the UN Human Development Index
Asks how satisfied people are with their lives on a numerical scale from 0 (low) to 10 (high), in Gallup ‘World Poll’
Measures how much land and water area a human population requires to produce the resource it consumes and to absorb its wastes, using prevailing technology.
Conceptually the HPI is straightforward. It is an efficiency measure: well-being delivered per unit of environmental impact. However, a couple of statistical adjustments are made to ensure that no single component dominates the overall indicator: See Nic Marks TED Talk on the HPI http://www.ted.com/talks/nic_marks_the_happy_planet_index.html and Guardian interview www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/video/interview-nic-marks-economics-sustainability-video
Countries that have greater income equality have higher child wellbeing. The USA and the UK have become increasingly unequal societies. There have been a number of critiques of the Spirit Level, mainly from right wing commentators claiming it is a left wing conspiracy. The evidence provided is all from seriously peer reviewed sources. For a defence of their evidence by the authors see www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/response-to-questions
Inequality and status competition erode trust.
Inequality also lessens belief in the common good.
Status competition fuels consumerism and erodes public spirit. Some parts of the UK are developing their own equality / poverty monitoring projects (see Links section of the Equality Trust website. The Sheffield Equality Group (www.sheffieldequalitytrust.org.uk) point out the disparities between living in affluent and deprived areas if the city e.g. 92% A-C at GCSE in Bradway, compared to 25% in Brightside; average life expectancy 14 years less in Crookesmoor than in Crosspool. Is education engaging with these issues of local (as well as global) inequality?
Advertising promotes dissatisfaction with what we have and promises happiness if we just have a few more things. www.polyp.org.uk To see an animation of the cartoon go to - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4OPFl2Kxhs “ Education influences and reflects the values of society and the kind of society we want to be” (National curriculum values and purposes)
The quality of our relationships is a key element of happiness and wellbeing. In Western society more and more people are living alone and loneliness is a growing problem. A sense of connection with the natural world is also very important – this sense of being part of a greater whole enhances wellbeing
Exercise releases endorphins, the body’s natural ‘feel-good’ chemicals
Modern society encourages everyone to be in a hurry. Humans have become disconnected from natural cycles. This is the idea of being present, of living in the moment, what Buddhists call ‘mindfulness’.
There is growing evidence that keeping on learning and the brain active helps us live longer, healthier lives. The challenge for educators is that schooling often puts young people off learning.
People who are happier give more which makes them feel happy, inducing a virtuous cycle
This echoes the Sustainable Schools strategy with its emphasis on joined-up learning. If you take an issue like food, often children have been learning about healthy eating in the classroom but then not seen this in practice in the school canteen or the local community, so there is a disconnect between learning and reality that breeds disaffection. The same can be said of an issue such as waste reduction and recycling. The challenge is to link up what is happening in the formal curriculum with the informal, non-formal and social curriculum. The ethos and community links (local to global) need to reinforce enquiry and learning.
Activity: Rank the Five Ways to Wellbeing according to your own idea of their importance / which one you feel your school should address first. Then try and fill in the different areas of the three Cs according to what you are already doing / could do in the future. You may also like to note what things currently go against their meaningful implementation. These take place within a wider circle of Culture / Context.
Schools and organisations can also look at the global manifesto for a happier planet and see how they can address some of these areas in their local context.
DECSY welcomes feedback on the SEAL and the Global Dimension materials developed on the website. Clive and DECSY associates are available to do training around the SEAL and the Global Dimension materials / Well-being. We are keen for teachers to engage with the materials and / or develop new ones and give us feedback or suggest areas for us to develop
This is reflected in recent Ofsted guidance: "...sustainable development is not just about environmental or green issues such as switching off unnecessary lights, recycling and buying locally grown fruit and vegetables. In schools it includes consideration of pupils ’ well-being , and the school ’ s contribution to building a sustainable community . ” Inspecting Sustainable Development Ofsted April 2012
