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Paper short abstract

Young people’s wellbeing is a global concern and schools are in the spotlight. As global education policy converges towards a relational approach to wellbeing, research in a Hong Kong international school shows how a whole school approach can embed wellbeing in policies, practices and interaction.

Paper long abstract

The importance to wellbeing of relationships and of context were two of the key insights of the Wellbeing in Developing Countries (WeD) research programme, 2002-7. This paper shows what can be achieved by placing these two insights at the core of policy to advance wellbeing in schools. Conceptually, it sets out the key concept of relational wellbeing (RWB), an approach that recognises connection as at the heart of wellbeing and centres relationships in strategies to promote it. This again builds on WeD foundations, understanding wellbeing as composed of three interlinked dimensions: what people can be and do, what they think and feel, and how they relate and connect to others.

The paper presents five scales which shape conceptualisations of wellbeing. Applying these to wellbeing policy in education globally shows that there is increasing convergence with the principles of RWB. We then describe the approach of wellbeing-informed practice, which aims to engender relational wellbeing at an institutional level. Wellbeing-informed practice combines relational structures and processes with specific initiatives to promote wellbeing and person-centred practice which enables individuals to thrive. Empirically, the paper draws on research in an international school in Hong Kong. This enables us to see the systemic dynamics of wellbeing-informed practice in a specific case. Our final discussion considers the scope for scaling up from a prototype based on a relatively wealthy and privileged private school, to those working for education in very different contexts.