The student well-being model: A conceptual framework for the development of student well-being indicators

Abstract

The importance of student well-being to positive youth development is widely accepted, despite little consensus on what it means for youth to be well in school. The student well-being model (SWBM) provides a framework for the development of student well-being indicators based upon a case study of a New Zealand secondary school involving critical analysis of New Zealand education policies, and qualitative investigation into New Zealand students’ and teachers’ perspectives and experiences on well-being. This exercise illustrates a process that can be replicated elsewhere to capture the academic, social and cultural milieu of individual schools and to support effective monitoring of student well-being in practice. Future research agendas based on the SWBM, such as psychometric analysis of the SWBM, as well as explorations of its viability as a practical pedagogical tool to facilitate reflection upon, identification of, communication about, and enactment and monitoring of student well-being are discussed.