THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPT OF WELLBEING 1 Definition of wellbeing

It is believed that schools may focus too strongly on academics and ignore the importance of essential human wholeness which incorporates emotional health and social wellbeing (Faupel & Sharp, 2003). Given that this study aims to explore learners’ perspectives on their

wellbeing, it is appropriate to define and explain the concept of “wellbeing”.

The definition varies depending on the field and policy area. According to Wagstaff (2011) the concept of wellbeing has evolved over time and it naturally links to multiple notions and points of view. The World Health Organisation (WHO) posits that the concept of wellbeing encompasses the physical, mental and emotional, social and spiritual dimensions of health (Wagstaff, 2011). Furthermore, the WHO in 1946 determined that wellbeing was one of the principles basic to the happiness, harmonious relations and security of all peoples. The WHO’s use of the term “happiness” in the previous statement befits this study’s participants as young children who may not understand the term “wellbeing”. The WHO’s definition of health refers to social and psychological wellbeing.

Looking at health and wellbeing deeper, Konu and Rimpela (2002) suggest that the concept of wellbeing has been divided into four categories:

 School condition (having)  Social relationships (loving)

 Means for self- fulfillment (being), and  Health status (health)

According to Konu and Rimpela (2002) “being” applied to the school context, can be seen as the way in which the school offers means of self- fulfillment, they further explain that each pupil should be considered an equally important member of the school community. They further postulate that positive learning experiences enhance self-fulfillment.

They state that it should be possible for each learner to participate in decision making

resonates with what has been said earlier in giving learners a voice or letting them participate in factors that affect them.

According to Kosher, et al. (2014), wellbeing can be explored from the children’s rights perspective which maintains that wellbeing is the realisation of children’s rights and the fulfillment of the opportunity for every child to be all she can be in the light of her abilities, skills, and potential. As has been indicated in chapter 1, according to the UNCCR’s article 12, children’s rights are stipulated and every country has to adhere to them. The article stipulates that schools should consult learners on the day-to-day life of the school, and asksthe school to develop learner participation and active citizenship in the school setting and as part of the school’s development planning process. These democratic policies sometimes clash with cultural practices in specific countries. Moletsane (2012) shows how different cultures interpret childhood and how they monitor physical maturity. She gives an example where a girl had to start going to school at the age of nine because the family thought she had to develop physically to be able to endure the long walk to and from school. However, the girl had to start doing chores at the age of six, and those included sweeping and chores that

increased in difficulty according to age. Someone from another culture may view some chores as adult chores where at eight the girl had to cook, and at nine she had to fetch wood from the bush. If there was a way of monitoring children’s rights, some chores would be seen as child abuse and many parents would be penalised. There should be ways in which these rights are not just highlighted in documents but all the relevant people like parents should know about them and the consequences of denying children their freedom to play and to voice their views.

Furthermore, the case above depicts how sometimes children’s wellbeing are affected by their immediate contexts. Depending on resilience, especially the girl child’s self -esteem may be hampered when being the oldest in a class of young peers.

Furthermore, the above examples may imply that adults view children as passive participators because everything is imposed upon them when they are expected to execute these duties. Hence studies have suggest that children should be seen as active agents who are already contributing to their families and communities (Tisdall & Liebel, 2008).

Wellbeing also has to be understood in relation to individual preferences and opportunities. As such, the same level of commodities and resources do not produce the same level of wellbeing for all individuals (Ben-Ariech & Frones, 2007. This is true when we talk about

unique human beings. Wellbeing also results from the interaction the child has with

significant others and the society at large and how they share resources. These factors are not static, and the children’s developing capacities enable them to actively contribute to their wellbeing (Bradshaw, Hoelscher & Richardson, 2006).

The different definitions of wellbeing and the way in which contextual factors impact on definitions may suggest that wellbeing has not been clearly defined, especially when it comes to young people (Ben- Arieh, 2006).

2.4.2 Mental health: A state of wellbeing

Mental health is defined as a realisation of one’s potential and the ability to handle pressures in order to work effectively. Furthermore, the WHO emphasies that health includes all aspects of one’s wellbeing. This may suggest that if all these aspects are catered for and recognized as important, children at school may develop positive mental health. The following paragraph give hope that children are slowly gaining recognition and different stakeholders are becoming aware of how important it is to include children in matters that affect them.

According to Kosher, et al. (2014) children’s rights and their wellbeing have gained attention at the same time. They suggest that childhood is a unique period of life which emerged during the 19th century. It came along with attempts to grant protection and provision of rights to children. In the second half of the 20th century, children began to be allowed participation for they were now recognized as legal persons whose rights were equated to adults (Peterson- Badali & Ruck, 2008). They further assert that children should not be seen as their parents’ or the state’s property but as people who are entitled to the same rights as adults do. The current study explores how the school can allow children to practice their rights as equal active partners in their education.

Similarly, Boyden, Ling and Myers (1998) suggest that there are nine principles that can be applied in different contexts to guide studies of children’s wellbeing, whether their purpose is to monitor their experience, explore their understandings, or to track the process that

influences their wellbeing across their life course. In summary, these principles suggest that children are offered different rights and opportunities depending on the different perceptions of different cultures and communities or households. In some culture children are exposed to work at an early age. And from these principles it is evident that child work in some societies is regarded as important in strengthening family relations.

The above principles suggest that one should be conscious of the various components and dynamics of wellbeing. Some of the principles also show how Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory plays in child development, especially the microsystem as the family is mentioned in almost all these principles.

2.4.3 Wellbeing at school

Previously, wellbeing has been referred predominantly to physical health. Since the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) document, wellbeing also focuses on children’s participation in matters that concern them. In addition, ecological theory suggests that we could observe how the different systems influence the child’s development. In this study, greater emphasis is placed on the microsystem and the child’s immediate environment, which in this case, is the school.

According to Gutman and Feinstein (2008) most children experience wellbeing in primary school. In the same way, the school is regarded as the focal point for elevating children and adolescents’ health (Konu & Rimpela, 2002; Yetunde, Aoife, O’Higgins & Gabhainn, 2013). For Pullman, Bruns, Dalyn, and Sander (2013) schools are central and critical locations for youth health and mental health promotion. These statements suggest that because school is where learners spend most of their time there should be measures in place to look after the wellbeing of the learners.

There is some evidence to suggest that factors like children’s individual experiences such as bullying, victimization and friendships, and their beliefs about themselves and their environment, affect their wellbeing (Gutman & Feistein, 2008). According to them schools make a difference in children’s wellbeing, but it is children’s individual experiences within schools which are important. Children’s individual interactions with their peers may result in different experiences within the same environment.

In South Africa one of the core strategies of the government-appointed 2020 Review Group for example, actively involves learners as the owners of their own learning. However, it has been found that some teachers see children as dependent on teachers for knowledge. For example, one teacher in Zahorik’s (1990) study is quoted saying “I’ve never met students who could make decisions (about learning) for themselves.” The previous quote and the year of the study in which the quote is extracted may compel one to think that the quote was inspired by the Children’ Convention that was published the preceding year, 1989 and that the policies in those

articles were not yet practiced. The contrasting quotes may suggest that teachers have been and are still treating learners according to their own beliefs about children. In this quote the teacher indicated that “I’m flexible. I’ll go with students’ interests, I’ll go with current events of interest and trash the curriculum.” This also shows that this teacher respects the learners as humans who have their own interests and thus respects them. It may however be important to find a middle ground between the first and the second teacher’s views because one cannot reject learners’ views on learning. At the same time one cannot throw out all the positive aspects of the curriculum either.

One should consider learners’ views in their learning as giving them the respect which Kourkoutas (2012) considers fundamental in order for studying to be meaningful. In the context of well-being and learning, it is important to consider school health in South Africa.