Session Information
29 SES 10, Parallel Paper Session
Paper Session
Contribution
This paper explores the potential that creative initiatives in UK primary schools have for improving children’s wellbeing by drawing on a recently completed project focusing on the impact of a particular arts initiative (the Creative Partnerships Programme) on children’s wellbeing.
Interest in wellbeing has grown considerably in recent years with the recognition that economic indicators alone cannot measure the state of a nation (Stiglitz, Sen, & Fitoussi, 2009). Policy-makers across the world are now interested in conceptualising and measuring people’s wellbeing. However, given that research into this aspect of peoples’ lives is a relatively new phenomenon, there is little consensus about what wellbeing is, how it differs from other related concepts such as happiness and flourishing, and how it might be assessed. The wellbeing of school-aged children is only beginning to be explored with increasing recognition that research conducted on adults cannot be uncritically applied to young people. The first part of the paper therefore explores conceptions of wellbeing and outlines an instrument developed as part of the project to measure wellbeing.
The adoption of New Public Management reforms in the educational arena, particularly in Westernised societies, and the attendant performativity culture (Ball, 2003) place great pressure on young people as examination outcomes form the ‘currencies’ of educational systems (Fuchs & Wossmann, 2007) and this might be expected to have a negative impact on children’s’ wellbeing given the central role school occupies in their lives. The UNICEF survey (United Nations Children's Fund, 2007), revealed that the UK, with its strong accountability mechanisms in education, had the lowest overall average ranking across six measures of wellbeing. This provides a clear rationale for exploring initiatives with the potential to improve children’s wellbeing in the UK.
Although researchers working in the field of creativity have not typically considered the potential of their work for promoting wellbeing, we argue that theoretical approaches to creativity such as the development of expertise (McLellan, Galton, Steward, & Page, 2012), flow theory (Csikszentmihalyi, 1992) and the componential theory of creativity (Amabile, 1996) can be linked to wellbeing through the bridge of intrinsic motivation which is central in each and has been equated with wellbeing in some conceptualisations (Deci & Ryan, 2008). Thus the second part of the paper draws on a number of case studies of schools involved in the Creative Partnerships Programme or other creative initiatives and considers the impact of these initiatives on children’s wellbeing through the lens of intrinsic motivation and the other theoretical approaches to creativity outlined above.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Amabile, T. (1996). Creativity in Context. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press Inc. Ball, S. J. (2003). The teacher’s soul and the terrors of performativity. Journal of Education Policy, 18(2), 215–228. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1992). Flow: The psychology of Happiness. New York: Rider & Co. Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2008). Hedonia, Eudaimonia, and well-being: An Introduction. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9(1), 1-11. Fuchs, T., & Wossmann, L. (2007). What accounts for international differences in student performance? A re-examination using PISA data. Empirical Economics, 32, 433-464. McLellan, R., Galton, M., Steward, S., & Page, C. (2012). The Impact of Creative Partnerships on the Wellbeing of Children and Young People. London: Creativity, Culture & Education. NEF (New Economics Foundation). (2009). National Accounts of Well-being: bringing real wealth onto the balance sheet. London: New Economics Foundation. Stiglitz, J., Sen, A., & Fitoussi, J.-P. (2009). Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. United Nations Children's Fund. (2007). Child poverty in perspective: An overview of child wellbeing in rich countries (Vol. Report Card 7). Florence: Unicef Innocenti Research Centre.
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