Wellbeing, Schooling and Educational Strategies: Why are cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary perspectives needed?

TY - CHAP

T1 - Wellbeing, Schooling and Educational Strategies

T2 - Why are cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary perspectives needed?

AU - McLellan, Ros

AU - Faucher, Carole

AU - Simovska, Venka

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Discourses on wellbeing in relation to schooling are beginning to receive more attention, with questions being raised as to whether wellbeing is always a good thing and what the role of school is, or could be, in this regard. Simovska (2016; Simovska & Kousholt, 2021) has argued that rather than being transformative, wellbeing can act as tyrannical if the focus on measurement and comparison technologies is overemphasised, and if norms associated with wellbeing are overly simplified to feeling ‘good’ or ‘happy’. Such exhortations can create an atmosphere of ‘toxic positivity’ particularly for children and young people whose life circumstances do not lend themselves to constant cheeriness (O'Toole, 2019). Similarly, interventions based on hegemonic constructions of wellbeing and how it can be supported, can further marginalise those they are seeking to support (Wood, 2018). Such critical discussion of wellbeing in relation to children and young people from a variety of socio-cultural, political and economic settings, however, is still relatively sparse (e.g. Fattore, Mason, & Watson, 2016; Wright & McLeod, 2015). This volume therefore responds to a growing necessity to revisit, challenge, and rearticulate taken for granted conceptualisations, policies and intervention frameworks and work synergistically to generate a sophisticated understanding of children’s wellbeing while introducing fresh and context-sensitive approaches.

AB - Discourses on wellbeing in relation to schooling are beginning to receive more attention, with questions being raised as to whether wellbeing is always a good thing and what the role of school is, or could be, in this regard. Simovska (2016; Simovska & Kousholt, 2021) has argued that rather than being transformative, wellbeing can act as tyrannical if the focus on measurement and comparison technologies is overemphasised, and if norms associated with wellbeing are overly simplified to feeling ‘good’ or ‘happy’. Such exhortations can create an atmosphere of ‘toxic positivity’ particularly for children and young people whose life circumstances do not lend themselves to constant cheeriness (O'Toole, 2019). Similarly, interventions based on hegemonic constructions of wellbeing and how it can be supported, can further marginalise those they are seeking to support (Wood, 2018). Such critical discussion of wellbeing in relation to children and young people from a variety of socio-cultural, political and economic settings, however, is still relatively sparse (e.g. Fattore, Mason, & Watson, 2016; Wright & McLeod, 2015). This volume therefore responds to a growing necessity to revisit, challenge, and rearticulate taken for granted conceptualisations, policies and intervention frameworks and work synergistically to generate a sophisticated understanding of children’s wellbeing while introducing fresh and context-sensitive approaches.

KW - Wellbeing

KW - Schools

KW - cross cultural

KW - Interdisciplinary

KW - Education

M3 - Book chapter

SN - 978-3-030-95204-4

T3 - Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research

SP - 1

EP - 17

BT - Wellbeing and Schooling

A2 - McLellan, Ros

A2 - Faucher, Carole

A2 - Simovska, Venka

PB - Springer

CY - Cham

ER -