AUDITING WELLBEING: ISC WELLBEING IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS REPORT 1/5
Welcome to my first blog in a series of five inspired by the ISC Research report on Wellbeing in International Schools. I am most interested in the results around transition, as emotional wellbeing for relocation is the focus of my work. In each blog in this series, I will share and discuss one key report finding or recommendation which I found particularly interesting.
This blog focuses on the key recommendation of auditing wellbeing. If you’d like to know more about my audits to support and promote wellbeing for international schools and organisations who relocate staff globally, please drop me a line.
WELLBEING IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS: THE 2018 REPORT
ISC Research’s report shares the preliminary findings of the first global research into wellbeing in international schools. Angie Wigford at International Educational Psychology Services Ltd. and Andrea Higgins at Cardiff University School of Psychology conducted the research, supported by ISC Research. In the report, the researchers define wellbeing as “when individuals have the psychological, social and physical resources they need to meet a particular psychological, social and/or physical challenge” (Wigford and Higgins, 2018: p3.)
AIMS OF THE RESEARCH
There are two main aims in the Wellbeing in International Schools report:
to identify what promotes wellbeing
to identify the barriers to wellbeing.
KEY RECOMMENDATION FROM THE WELLBEING IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS REPORT
“Auditing wellbeing in the school community can increase understanding of issues needing attention” (Wigford and Higgins, 2018: p.22).
I could not agree more with this recommendation. International schools audit or assess many other areas, such as progress in the curriculum. In my experience, I find it’s quite rare for a school to audit wellbeing.
The benefit of auditing wellbeing is that a school can baseline their current status. The school can then identify opportunities for further development and where to target additional support. I find it is also important to identify the school’s existing strengths around wellbeing. It’s important to celebrate what is working well and consider how you can build upon those strengths to move forward effectively.
HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO BUSINESSES RELOCATING FAMILIES?
Many people are not aware of the emotional stress and challenges that lie ahead of them during their relocation process. This is true for professionals supporting global mobility and also for families on the move. The reality is that relocation is a stressful process for the whole family. This stress can negatively impact all family members, which can be detrimental to the success of an overseas assignment.
Raising awareness of family strengths and challenges around relocation makes a huge difference. If families are aware of their areas of strength, they can leverage these strengths to ease their transition. Similarly, raising awareness of areas they find difficult allows them to better anticipate challenges with these specific areas during relocation.
HOW I CAN HELP
I offer full audits with comprehensive report for both international schools and families. Both audits are based around my 5 Elements of Transition model. This robust has been created from my doctoral research, existing research in the field and my experience as an international teacher
There are two audit options:
student wellbeing in the specific context of international schools
family wellbeing to support organisations who relocate staff globally
Get in touch today to find out more about how the audits can support your school, organisation or family. I look forward to hearing from you.