A review of the role of school-related factors in the promotion of student social and emotional wellbeing at post-primary level

Abstract

In 2017, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) in the Republic of Ireland introduced a universal social and emotional learning (SEL) intervention in the form of the NCCA wellbeing guidelines. These guidelines are aimed at facilitating the promotion of student wellbeing during the first three years of post-primary education. This paper will provide an overview of the NCCA wellbeing guidelines, while also establishing the educational context within which these guidelines have become necessary. While the introduction of these guidelines is arguably timely, little is known of the attitudes and perspectives that are held by the principal stakeholders, namely the educators, regarding these guidelines and the promotion of student wellbeing in general. This constitutes a significant gap in knowledge as the success (or otherwise) of the new wellbeing guidelines in Ireland may be in some way contingent upon teachers’ attitudes toward both the guidelines themselves, and their ability to deliver them. It will be proposed that research, which is currently being conducted, is necessary to further understand educators’ perspectives in this area in order to secure ‘whole-school’ implementation of the wellbeing guidelines and curricula.

Keywords:

• post-primary
• education
• social/emotional wellbeing
• student
• educators

Notes on contributors

David Byrne is a PhD student based at the Blanchardstown Campus of TU Dublin. David’s primary areas of research interest are mental health/wellbeing, group dynamics, and gender. David’s current research involves an examination of Irish post-primary educators’ attitudes regarding the promotion of student social and emotional wellbeing.

Aiden Carthy directs the Research Centre for Psychology, Education and Emotional Intelligence (PEEI) which is located on the Blanchardstown Campus of Technological University Dublin. Aiden’s principal areas of research interest are mental health and applied education. Specifically, Aiden’s work focuses on using emotional intelligence coaching to enable educators, students and others to reach their maximum potential and on research related to student support and educational design.

Professor Sinead McGilloway is founder Director of the Centre for Mental Health and Community Research in the Department of Psychology and Social Sciences Institute at Maynooth University. (www.cmhcr.eu). She is a Chartered Psychologist and Chartered Scientist with the British Psychological Society (BPS) and an Associate Fellow of the BPS. Professor McGilloway has extensive experience in undertaking engaged policy- and practice-relevant research in the field of health and social care, with a particular focus on child and adult mental health and wellbeing and service evaluation. She is widely published, has won significant funding to date, and is currently leading/supervising a large number of interdisciplinary engaged research programmes and projects, including several which focus on wellbeing in schools.

Notes

1 DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) is an integrated school support programme used by the Department of Education and Skills to address educational disadvantage in the Republic of Ireland. For more information see https://www.education.ie/en/Schools-Colleges/Services/DEIS-Delivering-Equality-of-Opportunity-in-Schools-/

2 L2 Learning Programmes are designed to provide students with special educational needs (of higher functioning moderate and low functioning mild categories), with a Junior Certificate aligned to level 2 of the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ).