The Wellbeing Effect, a Four-Year Labour of Love
The Wellbeing Effect, written by National Wellbeing Director at Schools Advisory Service and published by Crown House Publishing, was a four-year labour of love.
Challenging the Status Quo
I, like many school leaders, had been seemingly banging my head against a brick wall for years, trying to improve standards to a level that would keep Ofsted happy and give our learners the best chance of success at high school and beyond.
Everything we tried from the DfE, Local Authority and consultants was about maximising the potential for our children to score well in the end of Key Stage SATs. After all, that would keep Ofsted happy and satisfy LA advisors and consultants. But for me, we were just about keeping our heads above water.
So we continued to ply our children with content, do booster classes and prepare them for the tests. After all, that’s the only way to teach, right?
Wrong.
There is Another Way
There are so many other ways that schools are using to educate and meet the bespoke needs of their learners, and the context of your school is vital.
What works in Basildon won’t necessarily work in Blackpool, and what works in Cornwall won’t necessarily work in Carlisle.
Putting Wellbeing at the Heart of Education
The book covers the way we did things at our school in Blackpool, but starts with a breakdown of what wellbeing is. Wellbeing in a professional sense for your staff and in an engagement sense for your learners.
It then goes on to explain what has been wrong with the education system. Although recent developments encouraging local decision making for schools and regions, brought about by the Burnham government and featuring in the report on Opportunity Areas entitled “Devolving Power in Education and Youth”, are encouraging, the book echoes the need for local decision making.
I genuinely believe it is a message of hope for areas of disadvantage and coastal areas especially.
Frustration, Not Anger
Some have called sections of the book angry, but for me, it is a level of frustration from a lack of understanding of what wellbeing is and what it can promote.
Sharing What Worked for Us
After I left headship, I wanted to share what had worked for us, after only 4% of schools had gone from RI to Outstanding.
The key is that we didn’t do this for Ofsted. We did this for our staff, students and school community.
A Book of Hope
I’d commend the book to you if you want to break through the glass ceiling of what we believe is possible in “places like Blackpool”.
It is a book of hope, of thinking differently and, in many ways, it is about engaging learners in learning and promoting the craft of teaching.
Andy Mellor
National Wellbeing Director
“The Wellbeing Effect offers a timely and compelling challenge to the prevailing policy assumptions about school improvement. Andy Mellor makes a persuasive case that wellbeing should not be treated as an additional initiative or as something that sits alongside the ‘real work’ of raising standards. Rather, he argues that it should be at the heart of how schools understand teaching, learning and improvement. Drawing on his considerable experience of leading a school in Blackpool, as well as his wider work in education, Mellor brings together critique, evidence and practical experience to show what this can look like in practice.”
Ceri Brown
Professor of Childhood, Inclusion and Education Policy