A new book by researchers at The University of Western Australia aims to help school leaders improve the wellbeing of their communities.
Emeritus Professor Donna Cross, from UWA’s School of Population and Global Health, and Dr Leanne Lester, Research Manager at the Centre for Social Impact UWA, co-authored the book which outlines how principals and their leadership teams can strategically select and successfully implement wellbeing practices in schools.
“School leadership is an increasingly complex, highly demanding role,” Dr Lester said.
“They are facing increasing demands to deal with everything from student mental health issues to parental bullying of teachers and schoolyard violence.
“In establishing short-and long-term goals for improving outcomes for students, school leaders must not only look to performance indicators and targets but also to the methods, approaches and strategies through which those targets can be achieved.”
Emeritus Professor Cross said the research outlined the actions and tools school leaders needed to understand what was working, what needed to change and where schools could go next to support and improve the wellbeing of their students, teachers and broader school communities.
“Evidence tells us that schools and school systems that adopt evidence-based practice are most likely to achieve their goals of improving outcomes for children and young people,” Emeritus Professor Cross said.
“In addition to improving the quality of teaching and learning, school leadership teams can have a powerful impact at the whole-school level in improving the wellbeing of all members of the school community.”
A summary of the research and how it can be practically applied in schools can be found in Leading improvement in school community wellbeing.
