Well-Being and Well-Becoming in Schools

By its very nature, school education is concerned with student well-being. Written by Canadian education scholars from a Manitoba-based research group, Well-Being and Well-Becoming in Schools aims to develop the notion that what we wish for our children is their well-being and well-becoming as they live their lives. This collection brings education scholars together to focus on a timely topic that has been of rapidly increasing interest to the research and education communities: student well-being and flourishing schools. Contributors address a broad range of issues that arise from this position to create a rich and integrated understanding of the topic. Chapters focus on foundational issues, conceptual issues, socio-cultural and organisational issues, and pedagogical and curricular issues. Ultimately, Well-Being and Well-Becoming in Schools weaves together substantial ideas to create an integrative framework that will not only serve as a guide for further research, but also for school educational leaders and educators to implement the idea of making school education primarily about student well-being.

Table of Contents:
1.  Introduction: Framing the Work on Well-Being and Well-Becoming Needed in School Education Thomas Falkenberg Foundational Questions on Well-Being and Well-Becoming in Schools 2. Three Theories of Well-Being and Their Implications for School Education Erik Magnusson and Heather Krepski 3. Three Foundational Questions for Policymakers and Practitioners Concerned with Student Well-Being Heather Krepski 4. Responding to the Other: The Need for an Ethic of Well-Being Rebeca Heringer and Thomas Falkenberg Conceptualizing Well-Being and Well-Becoming in Schools 5. Well-Being as a Core Focus of School Education: Conceptualizing Indigenous Well-Being Frank Deer and Jessica Trickey 6. Meaning in Life: A Core Component of Human and Student Well-Becoming Thomas Falkenberg 7. Well-Being of School Counsellors and School Psychologists Virginia M.C. Tze and Stephanie Brekelmans Contextualizing Well-Being and Well-Becoming in Schools 8. Well-Being in the Context of School Organizations Lesley G. Eblie Trudel 9. Well-Being and Well-Becoming in Inner-City Schools: Supporting Students’ Wholistic Flourishing in Inner-City Communities Jeannie Kerr 10. Developmental Evaluation as a Tool for Promoting Well-Being in Schools: A Case Study Cameron Hauseman, Thomas Falkenberg, Jennifer Watt, and Heather Krepski 11. A Complex Adaptive Systems Approach to Well-Becoming in Schools Thomas Falkenberg, Heather Krepski, Cameron Hauseman, and Jennifer Watt Curricularizing Well-Being and Well-Becoming in Schools 12. Finding Meaning in Life through School Mathematics Thomas Falkenberg 13. Making Meaning of Science Curriculum through Ecojustice and Place-Based Education: Looking through the Lens of Well-Being and Well-Becoming Michael Link 14. Kitchen Table and Greenbelt Writers: Flourishing Writing in English Language Arts and Beyond Jennifer Watt 15. Conclusion: Where to Go from Here Thomas Falkenberg Index

About the Author :
Thomas Falkenberg is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba

Review :
"An exceptional book This well-edited collection is comprehensive in terms of attention to theories, concepts, contextual sensibilities, and curricular considerations. The authors give highly articulate and school-relevant expressions to what it means to choose to place well-being and well-becoming at the core of educational moral purposes in the activities of schools and learning We are reminded of the profound importance of discourse on fundamental human longings for children and the critical role of educators and communities to foster learning, thriving, relationality, and becoming. Finally, there is vision casting, framing, and inspiration found from the first to the last chapter. I highly commend this book to scholars and practitioners."--Keith Walker, Professor of Educational Administration, University of Saskatchewan "This is a comprehensive resource drawing attention to the significance of deliberate attention to well-being and developing conceptual, contextual, and curricular foci on how schools can grow well-being in those involved in the education process. It is a timely and pivotal resource for scholars and practitioners in education who want to make a difference in those they serve and work with."--Benjamin Kutsyuruba, Professor of Educational Leadership, Policy, and School Law, Queen's University "This thoughtful, timely collection speaks compellingly to the critical importance of attending to well-becoming in Canadian school contexts. It vitally troubles narrow normative conceptions of well-being, and explores wholistic possibilities for human and nonhuman flourishing. Referencing Indigenous wisdom as well as various philosophies of education, and exploring such contexts as place-based education, counselling, language arts, mathematics, and science curricula, the authors insightfully illustrate that education at its heart entails enabling conditions for ethical, equitable, and ecological living. A generative read!"--Claudia Eppert, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education, University of Alberta "This tour de force publication marks a pivotal moment in the schooling movement that calls into question the longstanding exclusionary logic of teaching subject matter versus teaching people, along with the many prevailing binary-based conceptualizations (e.g., individual vs. collective). Integration across multiple dimensions of being human is a key concept that propels this immense and crucially important book project towards a 'well-becoming, ' sustainable, and culturally diverse/inclusive future. This timely publication appears as we face a critical societal issue today: the optimal well-being of all who are involved in the zones of education."--Heesoon Bai, Professor in Philosophy of Education, Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University