Gallery Presentation International Positive Psychology Association 7th IPPA World Congress 2021

Responding to Teacher Quality Through an Evidence-Informed Wellbeing Framework for Initial Teacher Education (#274)

Mathew White 1 , Faye McCallum 1
  1. The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SOUTH AUSTRALIA, Australia

The OECD reports that 99% of teachers believe that student wellbeing is important. However, pre-service teachers are challenged as they enter the teaching profession, as many do not associate discipline-specific learning and teaching with wellbeing and they are not well equipped with strategies to influence belonging and engagement. We ask, how can initial teacher education programs integrate an evidence-informed wellbeing framework in pre-service teachers’ education as a response to global issues? Rather than focusing on the content of a wellbeing framework, or the pre-service teacher wellbeing this presentation outlines the process to create an evidence-informed wellbeing framework in pre-service teachers’ education. First, we provide an overview of the current international and national trends of wellbeing in initial teacher education. The research question is posed to frame the presentation to investigate the context of the debate in the field. Here, we establish a practice and research gap concerning school students’ wellbeing—recent advances in schools and initial teacher education are evaluated. Next, we analyse the differences between evidence-based and evidence-informed professional practice and its implication. We then explore definitions of wellbeing. The operational definition of wellbeing for the chapter is proposed. An overview of the project’s two stage theoretical framework to respond to the research is outlined, Stage 1—Appreciative inquiry process—strategic level and Stage 2—Carpe Diem Process—program level. We then describe the study’s methodology. Last, we argue that the majority of wellbeing education has focused on the deficit or resilience models and that this chapter outlines a highly innovative two-stage process to re-consider twenty-first-century capabilities and innovations in teacher preparation programs. The purpose is to develop meaningful connections between wellbeing topics, points of discussion with pre-service teachers, and links to the professional standards for teachers. 

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  • Keywords: Education, Resilience and Posttraumatic Growth, Strengths, Systems