Listening to our young people

2. Introduce preventative social and emotional learning curricula at all levels of schooling for all students. We now know from the “best practices” literature of the past 10 years both here and overseas that students need a mental health prevention curriculum that is reinforced in the classroom, in school culture and practices and at home. For students with high levels of SEWB, a social-emotional literacy program that centers of not only the ABCs of emotional literacy but also one that includes ways students can extend their experience of positive emotions (for example, curiosity) should be considered.

3. Schools need support to develop the capacity to deliver social and emotional learning. There are a group of school practices that help embed social-emotional learning and well-being through the school-home community including: use of developmentally appropriate social-emotional learning curricula, classroom practices, school-wide practices, early identification and intervention, behaviour management, professional development of staff, parent education.

4. Ongoing professional learning for teachers that support students with social and emotional well-being difficulties. Teachers are well-prepared to teach the academic curriculum while being less prepared teaching the social and emotional health and learning curriculum.

5. Ongoing assessment of student social and emotional learning and well-being. The ACER Social-Emotional Well Being Surveys can be employed to provide baseline and on-going data on student SEWB.

6. The staffing and design of student welfare services should cater for the level of student social and emotional well-being in the school. Schools with large percentages of student with lower levels of SEWB should be provided with additional funding for student welfare/well-being services.

7. Parent education in children’s social and emotional well-being. There is little question we need to do a better job in providing parents with universal information of parenting practices that support the SEWB (including achievement) of their achievement.

8. Focus on social and emotional learning for boys. As the ASG data shows that boys are delayed in the social and emotional competences that support their SEWB, more intensive teaching of these competences across the curriculum should be included as well as in programs of behaviour management for boys.

9. School-community partnerships to support student social and emotional well-being. We need to be proactive in involving the community (mentors; community agencies; after-school programs) in the challenge of raising SEWB of students.

The future

The often-quoted view that “It takes a village to raise a child” reminds all of us that no one teacher or program can raise the social and emotional well-being of all students. The negative effects of young people growing up without positive parental interest and support, without school success, without positive peer pressure and without strong social and emotional capacity are difficult to eliminate. However, the authors of this survey are optimistic that if we listen to what young people are telling us we can collectively make a big difference.