Wellbeing as a concept has crept into policy agendas and practice in a range of settings, notably in health care and in respect of work and employment. Increasingly, attention is focused on child wellbeing as we see reports of increased mental and emotional health needs in children, bullying in schools and major reports such as the UNICEF report on child wellbeing in rich countries (UNICEF, 2007) which suggest that children and young people are less satisfied with their lives; have a poor quality of life and report a lower subjective wellbeing. Such reports have resulted in the almost uncritical acceptance of the need to improve ‘wellbeing’ amongst school-aged children in the UK through the Every Child Matters agenda (DfES, 2004); National Healthy Schools Standard Promoting Emotional Health and Wellbeing (DFEE, 2005) and the Happy, Safe, Make a Positive Contribution and Achieving their Potential in Scotland (SE, 2004), with parallel debates occurring elsewhere in the world, led by organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO, 1999). At the same time, debates concerning the general demise or challenges of childhood (Palmer, 2007, Layard and Dunn, 2009); poor child and adolescent behaviour; risk-taking amongst adolescents; and the perceived rise of youth criminality are regularly defined in terms of wellbeing (Edwards, 2003, Weare and Gray, 2003, Wells et al., 2003, Hartley-Brewer, 2001, Mytton et al., 2002). This has resulted in a plethora of guidance to schools asserting the importance of improving the wellbeing of their pupils. Whilst this might be a laudable aspiration, there is little consensus of what constitutes wellbeing, see for example (Coleman, 2009); nor how wellbeing can be fostered amongst children (Weare and Gray, 2003). Given the rise in programmes and measures that aim to address (and assess) wellbeing, it is appropriate to question the base premises, as with very few exceptions (Ecclestone and Hayes, 2008, Craig, 2007, Ecclestone and Hayes, 2009) it remains relatively unchallenged in educational contexts. In this paper I will draw together ideas from philosophical, welfare, therapeutic and education literature to discuss and critique the wellbeing culture(s) that have emerged in schools around the world, e.g. the discourse analysis on wellbeing conducted for the DCSF in the UK (Ereaut and Whiting, 2008); Allardt’s model of welfare (having/ loving and being) (Allardt, 1989); recent literature published in the Scandinavian and Barents regions (Konu and Rimpela, 2002, Arto et al., 2008); and Honneth’s work on recognition (Honneth, 1995) defined in respect of three levels: love, rights and solidarity. I will also consider classic accounts including: Furedi, Layard, James, Aristotle, Rogers and Maslow as well as more contemporary attempts to define and understand wellbeing that utilise concepts such as ‘academic resilience and buoyancy’ (Martin & Marsh), 'freedom and choice' (Schwartz), ‘happiness’ and ‘the meaningful life’ (Seligman et al.), and 'social and emotional aspects of learning' (Hallam) (Coleman, 2009) (p.282). I intend to locate the discussion of wellbeing within the body, the social body and the body politic, which arguably changes the discussion from individualistic models, towards more complex understandings.

This is a conceptual discussion of wellbeing that attempts to define the culture of wellbeing for children in schools. The recent book by Arto et al (2008) from the Barent's region is part of the inspiration for this paper as this is one of the few attempts in academic literature that addresses how we define wellbeing for children in school contexts. Theoretically this book draws upon the welfare model of Allardt (1989) and includes the work of Konu and Rimpela (2002) from Finland, who have extended Allardt's model to school and child contexts. However, these works are specific to the Scandinavian and Barents regions and this paper aims to draw upon these, and other ideas as mentioned above, to address the ubiquitous and largely un-theorised use of wellbeing in UK schools as well as elsewhere in the world. This incorporates a range of perspectives and ideas from eclectic sources.

This paper will conclude by questioning the purposes of schooling and where a culture of wellbeing (and inclusion) fits into such purposes. I will argue that schools should be concerned both with social change, and with education of individual children: this is not a dichotomy; instead the singular and the social are indivisible. The process of schooling should occur within an inclusive framework (Allan, 2008) which is non-discriminatory. If this can be achieved then dimensions of difference or disadvantage, such as those traditionally used to determine wellbeing, (and arguably fragment children's experiences) such as poverty, ethnicity, class, and home circumstances should be catered for within a culture of wellbeing in schools. This demands that we challenge imported notions of wellbeing, borrowed from economic and medical analysis of adults and applied uncritically to children and schools. We need to provide space for children and teacher's constructions of wellbeing to be voiced and heard and this demands new ways of researching wellbeing in school contexts. We also need to accept that not only are teachers important in children's school lives, increasingly there are a number of additional adults providing support in classrooms and their input and knowledge needs to be valued.