Travels with my SIG…

By The Wellbeing and Inclusion Committee

In Grame Greene’s novel Travels with My Aunt (Greene, 1977), the protagonist, Henry, lives in a suburban and predictable world. His encounter with his vivacious and counter-cultural Aunt Augusta, and their subsequent adventures together, expand Henry’s world immeasurably. Through his travels with his aunt, Henry recognises the prejudice and narrow mindedness of his bland and conventional life, and he develops a new, kaleidoscopic world view which values connectedness and open-mindedness. Augusta and Henry’s criminal leanings aside, the wellbeing and inclusion SIG shares a similar ambition. Here we take a whistle stop tour of The Wellbeing and Inclusion Special Interest Group (W&I SIG).

Departure

The W&I SIG is an academic community based at the Faculty of Education. It aims to bring together researchers from across disciplines and countries who are interested in issues of wellbeing and inclusion. The departure point for the W&I SIG was collaboration between Ros McLellan, Associate Professor in Teacher Education and Development and Pedagogical Innovation, and Kristine Black-Hawkins, Emeritus Professor of Inclusive Education. Ros’ work focuses on wellbeing, Kristine’s on inclusion. Together, they developed the SIG to build connections between the different, but related, concepts of wellbeing and inclusion. Their vision would offer a space for thinking together about the concepts of wellbeing and inclusion, for learning from each other about wellbeing and inclusion, and for exploring wellbeing and inclusion in multicultural and multidimensional ways. Both Ros and Kristine have extensive experience of the education system. In addition to their substantial academic achievements and contributions, both have been teachers in state secondary schools in England: Ros taught both psychology and mathematics, Kristine was an English teacher, SENDCO, and local authority advisor. Since its inception in 2018, the SIG has seen changes of government, a global pandemic, escalating geopolitical conflict, and the threat of AI. Issues such as these have had a notable and detrimental impact on the wellbeing of the population, including the school aged population (Cavaciuti-Wishart & Heading, 2024). In an increasingly complex world, facing increasingly complex problems, transdisciplinary thinking is vital (McLellan et al., 2022), and in the W&I SIG, we engage with these sorts of issues in broad, inclusive, transdisciplinary ways, for example Kurian’s  (2024) blog article about AI and gender violence in schools.  Wellbeing and inclusion have never mattered more, and working together across disciplines and boundaries, is essential to the continued pursuit of human wellbeing and inclusivity.

The Suitcase

In Greene’s novel, the green suitcase is highly symbolic. The SIG takes a broad and organic view of the concepts of both Wellbeing and Inclusion. Academics have referred to both of these concepts as suitcase words as they both have ‘many different meanings packed in’ (Cambria et al., 2012, p. 144). Baker, (2024), refers to wellbeing as ‘a large and somewhat battered suitcase into which a great many untidy ideas can be squeezed’, and the same can certainly be said for the concept of inclusion (Florian & Black-Hawkins, 2011). In the novel, the suitcase contains Aunt Augusta’s secrets, the parts of herself she wants to keep hidden. In the W&I SIG, we recognise that addressing suitcase ideas such as wellbeing and inclusion, requires us to address our own unconscious biases and to understand and acknowledge these parts of ourselves as critical to our personal growth and self-acceptance. Valuing our own and other’s individuality – our whole selves – is at the heart of wellbeing and inclusion as it fosters tolerance. Our W&I BLOG encourages reflective pieces, author’s hidden perspectives, and sharing of ideas with which we are toying. It aims to be a safe place for unpacking the suitcase without judgement and all submissions are appreciated and respected.

Travels

At the core of the SIG is our belief in the value of other people’s experience and knowledge. Just like Aunt Augusta in Greene’s novel, we appreciate and value the rich and vibrant tapestry of diverse human beings. The W&I SIG’s travels seek to challenge the status quo – its norms and expectations, to highlight and expose inequities, and to learn to look at issues from different perspectives. To this end, we have been fortunate enough to have heard speakers from across the world; recently we heard from Venka Simovska and Nis Langer Primdahl from the Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, about the state of wellbeing in education in Danish schools. We were further privileged to hear from Dr. Abu Sitta who is the UNESCO Chair in Anticipatory Systems, and who has worked extensively with the government in Dubai. And, Denis Francesconi, a Senior Scientist in the Department for Teacher Education at the University of Vienna, spoke to the SIG about his work on the Quality-of-Life Movement for Education and the OECD PISA Wellbeing Framework. The SIG has also been fortunate to hear from colleagues from across disciplines. Over the last year, we have heard from colleagues in the field of psychiatry, and we have heard from doctoral candidates who are contributing to wellbeing and inclusion in education through their professional work as counsellors, school leaders, and even architects. Next term, we are meeting some inspirational school pupils who are ambassadors for the Multischools Council, and we are engaging in an immersive wellbeing experience designed and delivered by Portia Ungley, a researcher and poet.

Home

Greene’s protagonist, Henry, eventually discovers that his old life no longer holds any appeal. He can see through the veneer of social convention which privileges some and disadvantages the many, and he moves to South America to be with his aunt (albeit for a life of skulduggery). In his aunt, Herny finds a sense of belonging, a partner with whom he can break convention and challenge boundaries. A commonly held view is that at the intersection of inclusion and wellbeing is belonging. Black-Hawkins, (2022), and McLellan et al., (2022) write about the importance of belonging to their respective foci of interest. A sense of belonging and camaraderie is what we hope that you will find as part of the W&I SIG. Challenging boundaries and conventions can be isolating and at times, demoralising. Our W&I SIG offers support, sustenance and sanctuary to those seeking to make a difference to the wellbeing and inclusion of others. You are all warmly welcome.

References

Baker, D. (2024, March 13). Enough with the literature already! Cambridge Wellbeing & Inclusion SIG. https://cambridgewellbeingandinclusion.blog/2024/03/13/enough-with-the-literature-already/

Black-Hawkins, K., Maguire, L., & Kershner, R. (2022). Developing inclusive classroom communities: What matters to children? Education 3-13, 50(5), 577–591. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2021.1873398

Cambria, E., Livingstone, A., & Hussain, A. (2012). The Hourglass of Emotions. In A. Esposito, A. M. Esposito, A. Vinciarelli, R. Hoffmann, & V. C. Müller (Eds.), Cognitive Behavioural Systems (Vol. 7403, pp. 144–157). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-34584-5_11

Cavaciuti-Wishart, E., & Heading, S. (2024, January 10). These are the biggest global risks we face in 2024 and beyond. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/01/global-risks-report-2024/

Florian, L., & Black-Hawkins, K. (2011). Exploring inclusive pedagogy. British Educational Research Journal, 37(5), 813–828. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411926.2010.501096

Greene, G. (1977). Travels with my aunt. Penguin Books.

Kurian. (2024, May 10). The new epidemic: AI, deepfake technology, and the need to act now to protect child wellbeing. Cambridge Wellbeing & Inclusion SIG. https://cambridgewellbeingandinclusion.blog/2024/05/10/the-new-epidemic-ai-deepfake-technology-and-the-need-to-act-now-to-protect-child-wellbeing/

McLellan, R., Faucher, C., & Simovska, V. (Eds.). (2022). Wellbeing and Schooling: Cross Cultural and Cross Disciplinary Perspectives (Vol. 4). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95205-1