Promoting Pupil and Staff Well-being and Resilience Erasmus Project

Project Title

Promoting Pupil and Staff Well-being and Resilience

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education; Health and wellbeing

Project Summary

This two-year project aims to develop a package of training materials and resources at a European level to upskill teachers in supporting students with mental health issues and building resilience in both themselves and their students. It addresses the well-being of both students and staff. The target age group is the Secondary sector, and the project brings together 6 partners from 5 countries. Partners will identify the issues relating to the well-being of both students and staff and develop a common methodology to address those issues.

The project has two strands. Firstly, it will address the vulnerabilities faced by students and develop strategies to address them, and secondly it will identify the pressures facing school staff and develop training resources to help mitigate them. There are therefore two sets of target groups, both staff and students.

There is ample research to show that there has been an increase in stresses and pressures on both staff and students in recent years leading to a range of undesirable outcomes, such as increased absenteeism through mental illness, reduced performance, and teacher drop-out. EU level policy recommendations include, promoting schools as a setting for health promotion and prevention of mental and behavioural disorders, early identification for all children and young people and enhanced training for all school staff on mental health. Research also points to the need to build resilience in teachers and school leaders to develop strong self-regulatory skills.

The overall objectives are to:
• analyse and share existing strategies and resources for identifying and addressing vulnerabilities in both staff and students
• identify common areas of strength and priorities for development
• undertake a study visit to Batley Girls High School in the UK to investigate the policies and practice of assessing vulnerabilities and resilience and preparing teachers to address them
• use the outcomes to develop a generic tool for identifying those at risk
• develop a model set of training resources and a methodology to equip teachers to identify and target vulnerable students and address their own life balance issues
• test the methodology and associated resources in schools in 5 countries
• produce an impact report incorporating a series of case studies and recommendations for school policy
• disseminate the outcomes widely

There will be 2 Intellectual Outputs and 1 training event. The training event will explore an example of best practice in the UK and then produce a framework for a set of 5 training modules which are developed in Intellectual Output 1.

The training modules will be:

Module 1: Understanding well-being
Module 2: Supporting the well-being of young people 
Module 3: Professional Development for teachers and support staff 
Module 4: Support for the well-being of school staff
Module 5: School policy

Once these modules are produced they will be trialed in schools in 5 counties with around 50 teachers, 30 trainee teachers and 460 students.

There is a need to undertake this work transnationally as the target groups in the different countries have different contexts, but the issue is an EU wide problem requiring transnational solutions. This can be achieved by sharing of best practice and expertise and by specifically creating a set of resources and methodology that is applicable and relevant for all European schools by testing them in the different contexts.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 186731 Eur

Project Coordinator

Batley Multi Academy Trust & Country: UK

Project Partners

• EDUACT – DRASI GIA TIN EKPAIDEUSI
• Lillestrøm videregående skole
• Agrupamento de Escolas de Silves
• edEUcation ltd
• CPIFP Bajo Aragón