Health & Wellbeing in Integrated Learning Communities

I’m in the midst of preparing a presentation for next week to NHS Highland’s Public Health Department (hence the lovely title pic of the Cairngorms) The title of my presentation is ‘Being Safe on the Internet and Responsible Use’, just a flamboyant working title, thanks to Ollie Bray. To be honest, I see it as an avenue to introduce a whole plethora of web 2.0 innovations, and how young people are finding ways to receive affirmations from their own audiences or create a sense of belonging, build self-esteem, self-efficacy and of course, my own little journey.

People want examples of course, so, how can I not mention Emily Fox and the interpretationist work of Robbie Dingo? Such examples exemplify how young people perform, to their utmost, using emerging technologies, to their own audiences and in doing so have found their own outlet to be expressive. I can’t comment on Robbie’s (AKA Second Life name) talents as a ’sketch book’ drawer so to speak, but if this is his creative outlet, then new technologies have enriched his artistic talents beyond belief. And..who are we to deny that this form of artistry is not valid, encouraged or recognised in our curriculum?

If you have a look at these two outstanding examples of creative expression here on YouTube, then you will also see the outpouring of constructive and positive comments from fellow young people.  The whole validation, or ‘positive strokes’ we would call in a ‘Transactional Analysis’ world are just too strong to ignore here, young people have found an outlet to perform to ‘their own audience’ that’s meaningful. As Ewan McIntosh has stated many many times, in Emily’s video the casing point in clip is the reaction of ‘mum’ in the background with arms folded. Thanks to Ewan to pointing these 2 clips out.

Enjoy both Robbie’s and Emily’s videos, striking, thought provoking and poignant..

Robbie’s outstanding interpretation of a Van Gogh masterpeice using SecondLife, (turn up your speakers for the soundtrack by Don McLean)

And the wonderful, (NOT speeded up Emily Fox, now standing at 1,000,000 views)

‘State is everything’.. for me, it basically means that when it comes to creating a learning environment, the conditions we establish influence the effectiveness of learning. I began to think about the forthcoming CfE outcomes for Health and Wellbeing and how we are going to be able to demonstrate how we’ve created the optimum climate conducive to learning for everyone participating and contribute to the outcomes.

We know that effective learning takes place when young people can construct knowledge, have a level of social interation, the subject is in context to realistic situations and the experience is meaningful in otherwords ‘active learning methods’. In addition to that I would also add that a safe, secure, warm, rich environment needs to be provided, this effectively is any environment where learning takes place.

We also know that a key driver in our work is to reduce health inequalities, so teaching methods need to ensure they are not contributing to health inequalities by disadvantaging certain groups or individuals.

So here is my starter for ten, as they say. If I said to you, ‘Health Impact Assessment’, you might groan and think, ‘here we go again another heap of paperwork to complete’, or simply, ‘I can’t be bothered with that on top of everything else’. You may think differently, but going on my previous experiences and knowing the enormous of work it takes to prepare a lesson or project, it could be the latter.

However, this approach really is not that at all, it’s merely just another way of thinking, similar to that of problem-solving or inclusive education. It simply encourages professionals possibly to think out of the box a little bit to ensure students get the best out of their learning experiences. I listened to Richard Bailey at a recent INSET and many parallels could be made to his problem-solving pedagogical approach to P.E.

Just to clarify,  Health Impact Assessments (HIAs) are not an alternative to decision making, not an evaluation of interventions made to improve health or not an end in itself, more of a fresh way of thinking.

Here’s a suggested simple script to start the ball rolling, realistically, it would be good practice to do this as a group discussion with colleagues as it contributes towards joint working practices, recording the answers I would suggest could contribute towards demonstrating how Health and Wellbeing outcomes are being considered and embedded.  Please note this are not in any order of importance.

• Are there any other additional ways to facilitate collaborate learning that’s of meaning and accessible to all students, e.g. wikis, blogs etc?
• Am I using the best teaching aids at my disposal, IWBs, digitalizers, projectors, laptops or hand-held games?
• How can I celebrate and recognise acheivements of all students?
• How does this play to strengths of all individual’s participating?
• How can I consult or involve parents/carers in this topic in a way that doesn’t exclude any groups?
• Am I encouraging AiFL (Assessment is For Learning) Techniques?
• Which other Literacy, Numeracy or Health & Wellbeing outcomes can be acheived here?
• Can I introduce other conditions to create the best learners, e.g. drinking water available, is the light, temperature ok?
• Can I use music or movement on entry to the class in order to open up student’s auditory chanels or prepare for the lesson?
• Is the classroom set up in a way that encourages both group work and individual concentration?
• Is the material age and stage appropriate, does it reflect realisitic contexts?
• Can I maximise resources by incorporating other staff in the school community, youth workers, school nurses etc?
• In dealing with any problematic behaviour, can I do so in a way that doesn’t impact negatively on the self esteem of the individual or group?
• Am I catering for all the learning styles in this group?
• Are the resources evidence based?
• Are there any reasons why someone would find this topic difficult to engage with?
• What else, in terms of support or CPD, could I benefit from?
• Is the project or work sustainable and cover sustainable development education?

In asking a few straightforward questions, there are bound to be winners and losers as it were for every topic, but the fact is is that the process has been enacted and the questions have been considered. I’ll post further Health Impact Assessment work later, as much of the current HIA work focusses on policies or larger scale initiatives.

Further links and reading.

Health Impact Assessments http://www.healthintelligence.ie/index.htm

World Health Organisation http://www.who.int/en/