Learning for Well-being: Introduction

CONSULTATION QUESTIONS

Are the situation, the context and the challenges correctly defined and illustrated?
Would you add other examples of ground breaking work that has changed perspectives?
What other examples would you suggest to illustrate measuring well-being?

OVERALL QUESTIONS
In reviewing the first draft of this policy glossary: Learning for Well-being: a policy priority for children and youth in Europe, we are interested your responses to the following questions:

Do you think that we have addressed the right issues and themes?

What themes or topics do you think are missing?

Are our arguments strong and convincing? What do we need to make them stronger?

We are interested in different examples that you would like to contribute to any of the sections?

You will find more questions at the beginning of every chapter.

We envision a society that values and enhances well-being

Our goal is to inspire and engage people to make all environments more conducive to learning for well-being of children and youth

INTRODUCTION

Children’s well-being is a key dimension of sustainable development; it is about our present and our future. It requires recognition as a central element of the European policy agenda – but we do not treat our children well enough. One reason for this is because children themselves are not offered the opportunity to have their voice heard and have weak or no political representation. Another is that we are not creative and daring enough in affecting change. We need to radically shift our mindsets and change:

• how we think about children
• how we think about learning
• how we think about health
• how we think about education

There is no policy maker that does not underline the sentence “children are our future – we must invest in them”. Yet the action that is needed rarely follows, despite the negative economic and social consequences for individuals, communities and society at large. Child well-being touches on many sectors of government but in particular it relates to the policy priorities of three of the largest service delivery systems in European welfare states: social services, education and health. There is increasing critique that these sectors do not deliver the outcomes that are necessary to ensure a more equitable society, better well-being and a healthy and well educated population – indeed their failure rate is disconcertingly high. New approaches are needed – but while seeking to reform these systems policy makers are challenged by major barriers, due only in part to the impact of budget restrictions and the global financial crisis. Major entrenched interests and the path dependency of the systems concerned also contribute to the resistance to change. But most of all we require a change in perspective which will lead to a new systems design.

We need to
• consider children as full partners not as objects of care and education
• understand learning not only as a cognitive, but as an integral process with many dimensions
• move from disease and treatment centred healthcare to promoting health and well-being
• move from standardised education to child centred education.

This policy glossary understands well-being as “realising one's unique potential through physical, emotional, mental and spiritual development ... in relation to self, others and the environment.” It is based on a view of society in which all people have the ability to realize their potential and all parts of society contribute towards child well-being.

An integral view of well-being indicates that many sectors and stakeholders are necessary to move a holistic child well-being agenda forward and it is imperative that government reaches out to include civil society and the private sector in such a quest. But many policy approaches and delivery systems in European welfare states are still caught in an “old paradigm” that is focused on deficits rather than resources, is input rather than output oriented and most importantly does not consider clients and users – neither children and parents nor patients and their families - as equal partners in the production of health, welfare and education and thus ultimately well-being. A new approach to enhance and co-produce well-being must be grounded in building new competencies for learning and for health and engaging in the co-production of learning, health and well-being.

While policy makers do show concern over the negative developments in relation to challenges such as child poverty, the obesity epidemic, mental health and functional illiteracy there is less willingness to take the policy action necessary to address the “causes of the causes”. These are not only related to the unequal distribution of power and resources as well as life chances even in the richest European countries but also to a model of education, learning and health that is not oriented towards well-being and the challenges of the 21st century. Rather than base long term policies and programmes on an approach that enhances personal and community well-being, empowers families and communities, supports their resilience and allows children to flourish, many countries continue with constant short term “fix it” approaches that frequently prove to be counter productive both in terms of cost and outcomes – for example when we opt for expensive medical solutions rather than engaging in the promotion of health and well-being..

In the 21st century governments are faced with many complex challenges which are “wicked problems”. They need to be resolved through joined up government action, that is across ministries, as well as through the involvement of many other stakeholders. Many issues that were considered as sectoral responsibilities assigned to specialized professional systems have now moved “up” the policy agenda as social and economic goals of the whole of government, these include the environment and to some extent education and health. The shifts in the global environment have created a new, and in many ways, more complex competition for the global work force and the brightest minds and the demographic developments have made healthy life expectancy not only a humanistic goal but an economic necessity. Climate change is generating the need to protect not just ourselves but support a global public goods approach that benefits all countries and peoples and we are beginning to understand that what benefits the planet also benefits our health.

CHILD WELL-BEING: a policy priority

Every society has the option to invest today in happy, safe and flourishing childhoods.

To meet the challenge of the EU Treaty “to promote peace, its values and the well-being of its peoples”- in particular its children – we need to base our actions on a new mindset and a new systems design which makes all environments more conducive to well-being. We call such an approach Learning for Well-Being.

The agenda for child well-being brings together three important rationales for action:

• Child well-being is about our present and our future, as individuals and as societies. It supports long term social and economic development. It promotes life course physical, social, mental and spiritual health.
• Child well-being is about the moral imperative of social justice and equitable life chances – it contributes to a better and more just society and to well-being for all.
• Child well-being - happy, safe and flourishing childhood - is a value in its own right.

The imperative for a sustainable future calls for inter-generational policies with due regard for present and future generations. But we are far from reaching such a goal. Child well-being requires better recognition as a central element of the European policy agenda – not only as an investment in future adults but in the well-being of the children of today.

While many European countries already invest significantly in children they frequently do so in a manner that is not well coordinated across portfolios, does not address the range of dimensions of child well-being and is not well targeted throughout the child’s life cycle. (OECD 2009) Policies and programmes rarely recognize children as active agents who can play an important part in shaping their own lives and advocating their own well-being.

We must reframe what we do. A comprehensive approach must begin with a significant change in the perception of childhood and child well-being, education and health. Children are a specific social group that has commonalities, needs, and value in its own right. (Qvortrup 1993) Yet children also need to be recognized in their diversity. Every child is unique. In addressing child well-being European policy makers need to consider that it is multi-dimensional and depends on many factors; there are multiple developmental pathways to the same well-being outcome; consequently, there is no single magic bullet intervention, or investment, which addresses all child well-being problems. Evidence indicates that many approaches exist which can provide better outcomes for less resources – if the willingness exists to overcome the path dependency of many programmes.

By engaging in a process to make all environments more conducive to Learning for Well-being of children and youth we will achieve better outcomes for children and for society as a whole.

Six policy imperatives for child well-being

1) Children’s present and future well-being must be a European policy priority for moral, social, demographic and economic reasons. All parts of society must engage at all levels of policy formulation and implementation.

2) European policy measures need to consider the structural conditions affecting the circumstances of children’s lives (e.g., poverty, inequality; environmental and social resources and assets) as well as the individual psychological, social and spiritual dimensions of children’s health and well-being.

3) The policy approach to child well-being must be based on a Learning for well-being mindset. We propose that is prioritize early child development, reorient the school and the health care system towards learning for well-being and invest in multiple 21st century literacies.

4) The centre of government must provide the focus for action on child well-being through an integrated Learning for Well-being - child investment portfolio. All policy sectors need to contribute to child well-being and through policy mainstreaming, policies need to be multi-dimensional and pro-active in order to be effective, efficient and equitable.

5) Child well-being must be measured, reviewed and monitored across a range of objective and subjective domains of well-being. It is imperative to include children’s subjective viewpoints.

6) Children themselves must be invited to be part of the decision-making process that will shape their destiny – their voice must be respected, considered and represented.

CONSULTATION QUESTIONS
Are the situation, the context and the challenges correctly defined and illustrated?
Would you add other examples of ground breaking work that has changed perspectives?
What other examples would you suggest to illustrate measuring well-being?

OVERALL QUESTIONS
In reviewing the first draft of this policy glossary: Learning for Well-being: a policy priority for children and youth in Europe, we are interested your responses to the following questions:

Do you think that we have addressed the right issues and themes?

What themes or topics do you think are missing?

Are our arguments strong and convincing? What do we need to make them stronger?

We are interested in different examples that you would like to contribute to any of the sections?

You will find more questions at the beginning of every chapter.

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CONSULTATION QUESTIONS

We envision a society that values and enhances well-being Our goal is to inspire and engage people to make all environments more conducive to learning for well-being of children and youth

We envision a society that values and enhances well-being

Our goal is to inspire and engage people to make all environments more conducive to learning for well-being of children and youth