Relationships between wellbeing, resilience and school climate

How happy students are at school is a relatively recent question in the public area. Using a sample included students enrolled in secondary education, our study aims to analyze the relationships between school climate, well being and resilience. The results show that the participants with higher well-being and resilience report a favorable school climate, and the boys report higher well being compared to girls, and girls more seek novelty. Cluster analysis indicates the following sets of the variables: Emotions, Openness and Learning support. The findings may be useful to school counselors in implementing interventions focused on positive consequences of the school climate on the students’ satisfaction with their school life

Building Resilience Through A Positive School Climate

The aim of the present study is to explore the potential for schools to promote resilience and protective factors through a positive school climate and a focus on school connectedness. Data from the California Healthy Kids Survey was used to analyze differences between children who reported high versus low school climate and school connectedness, and their reported levels of resilience based on four traits: empathy, problem-solving skills, self-awareness, and self-efficacy. The research questions addressed in the present study are: Is there a difference between students with different levels school climate perception when examining resilience-linked traits? And is there a difference between students with different levels school connectedness perception when examining resilience-linked traits? The results of the present study indicate that student perception of school climate, and student perception of school connectedness, contribute to the development of resilience in a statistically significant and meaningful way. The implications of these results are explored, as well as possible avenues for future research and how a focus on school climate and school connectedness can guide educational principles and practice

A Whole-School Approach to Promoting Staff Wellbeing

A caring school community can enhance whole-school wellbeing including the wellbeing of school staff, which directly impacts on student academic, social and emotional wellbeing. This study firstly examines the validity and reliability of a proposed whole-school staff wellbeing evaluation tool which uses a set of whole-school wellbeing indicators to identify strengths and areas for improvement within the school environment which may be impacting on staff wellbeing. Secondly, the association between factors found within the whole-school staff wellbeing tool with staff self-reported mental health are examined, and finally, the influence of person characteristics and role of factors on perceived whole-school staff wellbeing are determined. Cross-sectional data were collected from 801 school staff from six non-government schools in Australia as part of the School Staff Wellbeing Project. Results confirmed and validated the hypothesised structure of the whole-school staff wellbeing evaluation tool with staff relationships (leadership, staff), staff engagement (active, supported), staff emotional wellbeing (supported through policies and opportunities) and school climate (culture and values) found to be significant predictors of mental health. Prioritising resources to building supportive staff relationships, school climate, and providing opportunities to promote staff emotional wellbeing, were found to have the greatest impact on staff mental health. Characteristics such as age, gender, education, role, and length of time working in schools predicted perceptions of the whole-school’s general wellbeing. The whole-school staff wellbeing evaluation tool provides a useful screening and self-evaluation measure to identify whole-school staff wellbeing strengths and areas for improvement in staff wellbeing

The relationship between school climate and mental and emotional wellbeing over the transition from primary to secondary school

Background: School climate has often been described as the “quality and character of school life”, including both social and physical aspects of the school, that can positively promote behaviour, school achievement, and the social and emotional development of students. Methods: The current study examined the relationship between students’ mental and emotional wellbeing and factors pertaining to school climate, focussing on the domains of safety, social relationships and school connectedness, during the last year of their primary schooling (age 11–12 years) and their first 2 years of secondary school. Data was collected using a self-completion questionnaire, four times over 3 years from 1800 students’ aged 11–14 years. Multilevel modelling was used to determine the strongest school climate predictor of students’ mental and emotional wellbeing at each time point. Results: In the last year of primary school, peer support was the strongest protective predictor of wellbeing, while feeling less connected and less safe at school predicted mental wellbeing. Feeling safe at school was the strongest protective factor for student wellbeing in the first year of secondary school. In the second year of secondary school, peer support was the strongest protective factor for mental wellbeing, while feeling safe at school, feeling connected to school and having support from peers were predictive of emotional wellbeing. Conclusions: School climate factors of feeling safe at school, feeling connected to school, and peer support are all protective of mental and emotional wellbeing over the transition period while connectedness to teachers is protective of emotional wellbeing. Primary school appears to be an important time to establish quality connections to peers who have a powerful role in providing support for one another before the transition to secondary school. However, school policies and practices promoting safety and encouraging and enabling connectedness are important during the first years of secondary school. Recommendations for effective school policy and practice in both primary and sec- ondary schools to help enhance the mental and emotional wellbeing of adolescents are discussed

Resource Document on the Nexus between Animal Welfare, the Environment, and Sustainable Development

This Resource Document has been developed to explore the Nexus (links) between Animal Welfare, the Environment, and Sustainable Development. The document includes relevant citations and reports addressing the topics encompassed by the Nexus. It will be maintained as a “living document” (subject to revision) in the WellBeing International Studies Repository. The original document and subsequent revisions will be kept in the Repository to provide a record of the changes

How teacher-student relationships affect child and adolescent resilience

The significance of positive relationships, particularly between teachers and students, in fostering resilience among children is well-established. While various studies have delved into the dynamics and impacts of these relationships, there is a notable gap in research that directly assesses how teacher-student bonds influence students’ resilience levels. This study aims to bridge the gap by examining students’ perceptions of their relationships with teachers and how these perceptions correlate with their reported resilience levels. Participants (n = 59) included middle and high school students recruited from a school district in northeastern Mississippi. Participants completed surveys measuring their perception of their relationship with their most influential teacher from the current school year as well as a survey measuring their level of resilience. This was done by completing a Demographic Survey, the Student Perception of Affective Relationship with Teacher (SPARTS) measure, and the Resilience Scales for Children and Adolescents (RSCA) measure. Results indicated significant correlation between perceived closeness with teachers and resilience. By extending the use of the SPARTS measure to high school students, the current study contributes to understanding teacher-student relationships in older students, as well as promoting the overall significance of positive teacher-student interactions to cultivate resilience and improve life outcomes for students across all K-12 education levels. These findings have implications to promote the essential presence of positive teacher-student relationships to foster resilience and improve outcomes for all students

Student wellbeing, resilience and moral identity: Does the school climate have an impact?

The overarching aim of this study was to examine the impact of school climate on students’ wellbeing, resilience and moral identity. Two questionnaires, one to assess school climate and another to assess the three outcomes, were administered to a sample of 618 students from 15 South Australian independent schools. The hypothesised relationships were investigated using structural equation modelling. The results could guide schools in building environments that engender positive, resilient citizens with strong moral identities

Creating a climate in which students can flourish: A whole school intercultural approach

This article reports part of an ongoing process that is taking place at one high school. With the vision of an inclusive school in which all students could flourish, the school deliberately set out to develop a culture in which the students would feel welcome, connected and have a sense of belonging. This article focuses on, first, how the school, with a culturally-diverse student population, implemented a whole school intercultural approach aimed at improving students’ views of the school climate and, second, the impact that this had on students’ perceptions of the school climate and their self-reports of wellbeing, resilience and identity. These results indicated that, at the end of the 18 month period, students’ perceptions of the school climate were statistically significantly higher for four of the six school climate scales. Further, students’ scored statistically higher in terms of their wellbeing, resilience, self-anchoring and moral identity

School Climate and Perceived Academic Performance: Direct or Resilience-Mediated Relationship?

Although there is a growing interest in identifying the variables that enhance student school adjustment, there is a lack of understanding of the mechanisms involved in it during adolescence. Despite there being works that confirm the positive relationship between school climate and academic performance, it is still unresolved which of the more specific aspects of climate are linked to this performance, as well as the degree to which an individual variable such as resilience can play a mediating role between both; these unknown factors constitute the objective of this study. A total of 731 students (mean age, Mage = 15.20 years; Standard Deviation, SD = 1.62) from the Basque Country participated; they completed the PACE-33 -school climate scale-, the CD-RISC10 -resilience scale- and the EBAE-10 -perceived academic performance subscale-. The full mediation model and the partial mediation model were tested. The results show that the model of choice is that of partial mediation: the resilience mediates the relationship between two specific aspects of the school climate (peer relationship and teachers’ ability to motivate) and perceived academic performance, and a third specific aspect (teachers’ expectations) has a direct relationship with perceived academic performance. These findings highlight the importance of attending to variables specific to the context in which the subject interacts, with the role of the teacher being especially important, in addition to promoting the development of resilience, due to the weight it has on the perception that students have about their school performance.This research was funded by the consolidated research group IT1217-19 of the Basque University System and of the project EDU2017-83949-P of the State Subprogram of Knowledge Generation of the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness of Spain. Its first and last authors are beneficiaries of the Pre-doctoral Training Programme for Non-Doctoral Research Staff of the Basque Government’s Department of Education

The Ethical Relationship Between School Violence and Teacher Morale

This study explores how negative school climate factors, such as classroom violence, can influence a teacher’s pedagogical approach to classroom learning and relationships with students using a transformative lens to improve student engagement and pedagogical approaches after such tragedies occur. The Burke-Litwin (2010) model of organizational climate is used as a framework to understand how a school\u27s organizational climate contributes to a positive learning culture for teachers, post-trauma, with the goal of heightening teachers’ ability to continue to teach and to maintain student engagement post-violence. Major conclusions show that the underlying school climate plays a critical role in how a teacher recovers after witnessing a school shooting. In the recovery of post-violent school events, school cultures have a major impact on teacher morale, relationships between teachers and students, absenteeism (student and teacher), school discipline and, grades and test scores. A school’s organizational climate essentially contributes to teachers’ abilities to engage students actively in the classroom and to continue to be involved in motivational teaching and new pedagogical approaches despite witnessing violence