Good corn is not reaped from a bad field (Language Hobo, 2022) Catherine Fraser-Andrews February 2024 Introduction The Wellbeing and Inclusion Specialist Interest Group were delighted to welcome Professor Venka Simovska from The Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, as our first guest speaker of 2024. The Danish School of Education has an ethos ofContinue reading “Sielden skiærer man godt korn af ond ager”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
‘Enabling Empathetic Conversations?’ – A Critical Commentary on AI-Based and Digital Mental Health Interventions
By Evelyn Mary-Ann Antony Introduction The COVID-19 global pandemic has highlighted significant gaps in mental health services, as corresponding issues including job losses, physical illnesses and mortality, alongside social isolation, led to a stark increase in poor mental health conditions. Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) promise significant transformations in healthcare, particularly in relation toContinue reading “‘Enabling Empathetic Conversations?’ – A Critical Commentary on AI-Based and Digital Mental Health Interventions”
Staff-friendly schools … in which I test out my theory of staff-friendly schools, and ask the SIG what it thinks.
by David Baker There are child-friendly schools (1) and family-friendly schools (2). There are asthma-friendly, dyslexia-friendly and deaf-friendly schools (3). There are manuals (4) and web sites devoted to the idea of schools that are ‘friendly’ to particular groups of pupils such as wheelchair users (5) or autistic pupils (6). What I have been unableContinue reading “Staff-friendly schools … in which I test out my theory of staff-friendly schools, and ask the SIG what it thinks.”
Wellbeing Interventions in Education: A Commentary
By Ioannis Katsantonis, PhD candidate, MPhil (Cambridge), B.Ed(Hons) Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge Why does wellbeing matter? Although wellbeing means different things to different people, most educationalists have come to understand that students’ wellbeing is declining, both in the UK [1] and globally [2]. In the UK specifically, the Good Childhood Report [1] inContinue reading “Wellbeing Interventions in Education: A Commentary”
The Writing’s on the Wall
Can we learn anything about a school’s approach to wellbeing by looking at what’s on the walls? by David Baker I embark upon this blog taking inspiration from the words of Henri Lefebvre in his essay ‘The Everyday and Everydayness’ (1987). Thus, ‘The proposition here is to decode the modern world, that bloody riddle, according to the everyday’ (p.9). LefebvreContinue reading “The Writing’s on the Wall”
Building bridges, not barriers: 5 takeaways from innovations in disability-inclusive technology
By Nomisha Kurian ‘We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.’ I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this quote from Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design (Holmes, 2020). Mismatch is a powerful call to build technology that is accessible for everyone. This includes historically overlooked groups of people, such as elders, women and girls, peopleContinue reading “Building bridges, not barriers: 5 takeaways from innovations in disability-inclusive technology”
Michaelmas Term 2022 Welcome
Cambridge’s Special Interest Group for Wellbeing & Inclusion is excited to welcome you into the start of 2022 Michaelmas term! As we finalize our term card of events and talks for you, we wanted to kick off term with an introduction into the committee for this year as well as share our blog. The blogContinue reading “Michaelmas Term 2022 Welcome”
To a More Meaningful Mental Health Awareness Month
Mental Health Awareness Month is coming to a close, and as a psychotherapist, I am particularly discouraged this year. Mental Health Awareness Month found its beginnings in the United States in the late 1940’s, and with the globalisation of the world through the internet, social media campaigns now happen all over the world during the month of May. Over the last few years, I have noticed a trend in messages that come from companies and mental health professionals alike. There tends to be two prominent topics: diagnosis and coping.
Staff wellbeing, the employee experience, and school websites
Wellbeing, however defined, is a part of an employee’s work experience. Looking things up on a website is also a part of an employee’s work experience. If, on the website, you don’t find information about yourself and your job, or prospective job, what does that say about a school’s view of its employees.
Am I invisible? Am I taken for granted? Am I valued?
This blog piece reports on some very preliminary thoughts following my review of the websites of the 34 state secondary schools and 13 Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) in a particular English county.
When fieldwork is disrupted…. what to do and how to move forward
As anyone embarking on primary research knows, recruiting participants and schools is a difficult business. Daily, the student population was dwindling as children and staff stayed at home through ill health or fear. Some parents were now supervising classes as staff were unable to come into work, and I watched with a sense of helplessness as absences grew. On the 18th March, the Headteacher requested that I leave the school site. Rightly, his priority was to protect the school and prepare for the inevitable lockdown that we all suspected was coming. Just two days later, the Prime Minister ordered that all schools and colleges in the UK close.
Cambridge Wellbeing & Inclusion SIG 