Reimagining the Potential of Well-Being Education Through Theory Adaptation: Embracing the Complexity of Holistic Well-Being

• In Event: Art, Authenticity, and Reimagining Well-Being and Holistic Education

Abstract

Wellbeing was a priority prior to the pandemic: now it urgently needs to be repositioned to a place of predominance in our educational systems. However, wellbeing education is inherently and emphatically complex. Thus, enhancing wellbeing in educational settings is a divergent, dynamic and potentially challenging endeavor. Through the lens of complexity thinking, this theoretical paper addresses the juxtaposition of education, psychology and indigenous worldviews, contributing a holistic conceptualisation of wellbeing education and offering practical suggestions for educators, psychologists, leaders, and practitioners. Using a theory adaptation approach we generate insights that are complementary to those contributed from empirical research. We argue that complexity-informed approaches to wellbeing education have the potential to create emergent wellbeing change in and across complex educational systems.

Authors

• Suskya Goodall, Victoria University of Wellington
  Presenting Author

• Joanna Higgins, Victoria University of Wellington
  Presenting Author

• Rachel F. Cann, University of Auckland
  Presenting Author

• Philippa Ruth Nicoll Antipas, Victoria University of Wellington
  Presenting Author