Promoting the well-being agenda

How promoting the well-being of all children can simultaneously reduce impairments to the lives of the more vulnerable was one of the themes of Unit co-director Michael Little's contribution to a conference on emotional well-being and social justice.

The meeting was part of an ESRC-funded seminar series on exploring interdisciplinary perspectives on well-being and social justice in education policy, and practice. Six seminars were held at universities across the UK in 2008 and 2009. The finale featured talks on the implications for education policy and practice, and how policy makers respond to social problems.
 
In an interview with The Philosophers' Magazine, Michael Little explained how developments in the measurement of children’s well-being make it easier to apply scientific methods in the classroom and in everyday assessment activity by local authorities.
 
He described how a growing number of new and well-evaluated interventions have been shown to improve outcomes for children. They are beginning to be used more widely by local authorities, and, in the process, are encouraging the use of more scientific evidence to measure their impact.
 
Other seminar speakers included Kathryn Ecclestone, Professor of Education and Social Inclusion at the University of Birmingham, and Dennis Hayes, the head of the Research Centre for Education and Career Development at the University of Derby. To hear The Philosophers' Magazine interview with Michael Little, or to download it, visit their homepage. A link to his talk is attached below. For more background, visit Prevention Action.