This website is in development and will be ready by the end of January 2019.

The goal of this site is to provide teachers in international schools around the world with quality research and examples of best practice to help them develop their wellbeing provision. As far as we know this is the only website designed specifically on wellbeing for international schools. Please get in touch if you would like to contribute (info@internationaleps.com).

What is Wellbeing?

This is a good question. Wellbeing tends to mean different things to different people.

Our approach to wellbeing is from a resilience perspective. We use the balance model of Dodge et al, 2012 as shown below.

 

Stable wellbeing is when individuals have the psychological, social and physical resources they need to meet a particular psychological, social and/or physical challenge.

When individuals have more challenges than resources, the see-saw dips, along with their wellbeing, and vice-versa.

 

 

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There is a wealth of research on wellbeing and we aim to present some of the more relevant material here.

 

 

 

As a start you can access our recent publication which reports on a survey of over 1000 teachers in international schools in 70 countries. Wellbeing Survey 2018.

Many schools ask about how they can best find out about wellbeing in their schools. There are several tools available that can be purchased for this but before schools go in this direction we advise considering the following:

 

 

  • What do you mean by wellbeing? Make sure you get a consensus and define your terms so you know what you are aiming to measure.
  • Beware of one off assessments of individuals. These are notorious for providing both false positive and false negative results leading to a waste of resources and possibly missing those who need help the most. Particularly with teenagers whose moods can change by the hour!

Wellbeing is becoming more recognised and there is an award which schools can apply for:

Wellbeing Programmes and Interventions

In this section of the website we aim to provide a wide range of resource links for you to browse through.

This will provide an idea of the wide range of approaches available and enable schools to choose what could work best for their particular situation.

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Contributions from International Schools

The following interventions have been recommended (during IEPS training) as approaches that are already working well in international schools.

  • AT the Bangkok Secondary and Preparatory International School in Bangkok Thailand they have a MINDFUL COLOURING WALL by the library. PICTURE TO COME
  • RUOK.ORG.AU is also used at Bangkok Prep. This is a programme on suicide prevention (“A conversation could save a life”). There are ready made lessons for different age groups that are very easy to follow.
  • ANOTHER international school inBangkok recommends the organisation HUMAN UTOPIA which provides workshops for students to develop resilience, team building and self confidence.
  • TWO international schools in Bangkok recommended the .b programme for mindfulness.
  • AT another international school in Bangkok they have an Open Art Therapy Studio and Teacher Wellbeing Workshops (MORE TO COME)

 

 

Preventative Approaches

TRANSITION has been recognised as a key challenge to the wellbeing of families and staff. Dr. Sarah Whyte runs an organisation set up to help address the challenges of moving schools and countries for international teachers parents and students – this can be found at https://www.sarahwhyte.com.sg/

ZIPPY’s FRIENDS and APPLE’s FRIENDS are unique programmes for children aged 5-9 which develop social and emotional skills. Training is needed.

http://internationaleps.com/zippy-apples-friends/

Restorative Approaches

Meeting place

This website has been created by the staff at IEPS (International Educational Psychology Services Ltd). 

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Happy place

This is the fun section of our website where we hope to provide a little light relief.

 

Smiling Is Infectious
by Spike Milligan (we think)

Smiling is infectious,
you catch it like the flu,
When someone smiled at me today,
I started smiling too.

I passed around the corner
and someone saw my grin.
When he smiled I realized
I’d passed it on to him.

I thought about that smile,
then I realized its worth.
A single smile, just like mine
could travel round the earth.

So, if you feel a smile begin,
don’t leave it undetected.
Let’s start an epidemic quick,
and get the world infected!

 

We defy you not to laugh at this song: The Laughing Policeman

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