Paper Series
This series of occasional papers is on issues relevant to the purpose of the Research Initiative. While scholarly in nature, the papers published in this series are pragmatic in purpose: they are to serve practice and policy of school education and the professional and public discourse thereof.
Paper #1
Providing for Student Voice: What? Why? How?
This paper contributes to the larger topic of student well-being by focusing on student voice. The paper engages with three core questions around student voice: What do we mean by “student voice”? Why should we provide for student voice? How do we provide for student voice? To respond to the three questions, the paper draws on research literature from three fields of study: child well-being, children’s participation in decision-making in organizations, and child-centred research methods.
Author: Thomas Falkenberg
Paper #2
Framing Human Well-Being and Well-Becoming:
An Integrated Systems Approach
This paper introduces an approach to conceptualizing human well-being and well-becoming: the WB2-Framework. In the first part of the paper, five core characteristics of the WB2-Framework are discussed. Drawing on these characteristics, the second part of the paper introduces in detail the features of the WB2-Framework approach to well-being and well-becoming. In the conclusion, potential contributions of the approach to the discourse on human, child, and student well-being and well-becoming are suggested.
Author: Thomas Falkenberg
Paper #3
Loneliness and Belonging in Canadian Schools: A Serious Issue, a Matter of Equity and Inclusion, and a Case of Missing Data
This paper reports on the findings of a research synthesis project that inquired into the current state of loneliness and belonging of students in Canadian schools and into existing and supportive policies and practices to address them. The project focused on the following four concerns: Canadian students’ lived experiences with loneliness and belonging in school contexts; factors that contribute to students’ sense of loneliness and belonging; educational policies and practices that foster belonging in students; and the types of data that provincial governments and school boards collect about students’ sense of loneliness and belonging in school.
*** This paper is the final report of a project funded through a Knowledge Synthesis Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Employment and Social Development Canada ***
Author: Thomas Falkenberg & Rebeca Heringer
Paper #4
Approaches to Well-Being and Mental Health
by Provincial Education Departments in Canada
Decades of accumulated evidence underscore the critical and urgent need for school-based approaches to enhance the well-being and mental health of children and youth, a problem exacerbated by the pandemic. The development of comprehensive and equitable supports for students demands systemic approaches at a provincial level. Several jurisdictions have formulated resources, policies or frameworks to guide planning, pedagogy and the provision of school-based services aimed at addressing student well-being and mental health needs. This study systematically and rigorously examines provincial and territorial department of education websites to assess the prominence and conceptualization of student well-being and mental health across Canada. This paper delineates the findings, identifies common approaches, and proposes areas for further consideration.
Author: Roza Sola Gray