April 2020

Over the past 2-3 years, a small group of colleagues and I have been developing a children’s psychological flexibility/wellbeing curriculum for the primary phase of education (4-11 years). The curriculum structure is such that:
* Each one of the six terms in a school year has a theme that is aligned with one or other of the New Economics Foundation’s (NEF’s Five Ways to Wellbeing: Exercise; Give to Others, Connect with Others; Challenge Yourself; and Embrace the Moment. One further theme has been added to make up the sixth term for the year. This theme is around Self-Care, which also featured strongly in the NEF’s (2008) analysis.
* Each lesson, within any given term, focuses on developing one or other of the six core wellbeing skills outlined in Louise Hayes and Joseph Ciarrochi's DNA-V model (2015)

For anyone interested, you can sign up to access a free trial here: https://www.connect-pshe.org/sign-up. This is immediately accessible as soon as you sign up for the free trial, which also includes a sample of lesson plans and associated ppt slides, handouts and other relevant resources. Please do feel free to pass on to any teachers, schools or other interested parties you think might be interested.

Overall, the curriculum consists of around 250 Connect-branded lesson plans, each with ppt sides, handouts and resources. The whole product is housed online, to reduce the use of paper, and therefore reduce Connect’s carbon footprint. Lesson plans follow the same basic structure, so teachers can quickly become familiar with how lessons are run. They are generally between 1000 and 1500 words, so plenty of detailed explanations built in.

For UK based recipients of this email, it’s also probably worth mentioning that the Connect PSHE wellbeing curriculum addresses all of the new DfE statutory requirements for PSHE Curriculums at the primary phase. We’ve designed the curriculum in this way in order to address two very closely related, important and relatively recent developments in government guidance for schools:
1. The new statutory requirements to deliver PSHE curriculums (2019): Relationship Education, Relationship and Sex Education and Health Education.
2. The expectation that schools will be front and centre of a national effort to improve children’s wellbeing, in line with the children’s mental health green paper (Dec 2017): Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision.

The dream for this curriculum is that all children will have the opportunity to learn key wellbeing skills, proactively and preventatively, based on the best possible developmentally sensitive understanding the science of human wellbeing.

We really hope that schools, children, families and colleagues within our ACBS community will find the Connect wellbeing curriculum a useful resource for developing psychological flexibility skills with children.
I also just want to recognise the incredible help and support - in so many forms - during the development of this curriculum from Louise Hayes and Joseph Ciarrochi and so many other wonderful members of the ACBS community. It is a wonderful privilege to be part of such a kind, supportive, collaborative community.

Here's a link to the home page: www.connect-pshe.org

Best wishes,
Duncan and the rest of the Connect Team (Nic Hooper, Freddy Jackson-Brown, Corinna Grindle, Katie Parker & Emily Goyen)

Humans are a highly cooperative species - cooperation is what brought us to the global society that we are today. And yet, the biggest problems facing the well-being of individuals, our species, and our planet seem to be the result of our inability to work together.

Humans are a highly flexible species - we inhabit almost all the ecosystems of the world. And yet, the biggest problems facing the well-being of individuals, our species, and our planet, seem to be the result of our inability for flexible behavior change.

How can teachers engage students in these apparent paradoxes?

The second edition of the Global ESD creative commons publication, A Teacher's Guide to Evolution, Behavior, and Sustainability Science, provides educators with an interdisciplinary road map to understanding the origins, development, and flexibility of our uniquely elaborated human capacities to cooperate around things that matter, and provides tools and approaches for teaching about these concepts in their classrooms. 

Download the teacher guide here: http://guide.openevo.net

- Contributed by ACBS Member, Dr. Susan Hanisch (October 2020)