Data is good. Data is useful. When it comes to student wellbeing, there's more than data to consider. When it comes to student wellbeing, data only tells part of the story. Creating a narrative and 'storytelling' is important to fully understand a student's needs and how we can support them.
“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.” ~ Desmond Tutu
The importance of student wellbeing cannot be overstated. It is a fundamental aspect of a child's development and plays a critical role in their overall (academic) success. Without the foundations of positive mental health and wellbeing, we can't expect young people to do well academically. As they say, you can't pour from an empty cup. In order for schools to effectively support their students' wellbeing, they must have access to accurate and actionable data, which forms part of their strategy to supporting a young person.
Schools will generally rely on information given to them from families, or anecdotal perceptions from colleagues, about students. Often, the best we can do is react to students' situations and concerns when they arise, and support them to recover or pick up the pieces. What if there was a way for us to be more proactive? What if students could be on our radar ahead of time? What if 'at risk' students, who show no outward signs of vulnerability, could be flagged to us for potential intervention to stop negative wellbeing escalating further? Surely, as educators and parents, we all want this?
One of the most important benefits of having useful wellbeing data, along with a qualitative narrative, is that it allows schools to identify and address specific areas of concern. For example, if data shows that a particular group of students may be more at risk of anxiety, the school can proactively take steps to address this issue through targeted interventions and support.
Additionally, having accurate wellbeing data is that it allows schools to track progress and measure the effectiveness of their interventions. This could be term by term, or year by year. By regularly collecting data on student wellbeing, schools can see if their efforts are having a positive impact and make adjustments as needed.
Collecting data is only the first step. For data to be actionable, it must be collected in a way that is both comprehensive and accessible. This means that data should be collected from a variety of sources, including students, parents, teachers, and other staff members. The data should be presented in a clear and easy-to-understand format, so that it can be easily analysed and acted upon. With the busyness of everyone's working days and the mixture of proficiencies in engaging with data, it needs to be cleaned up, meaningful and accessible to all who will use it.
Ultimately, student wellbeing data needs to be: sorted, arranged, presented visually, and explained as a narrative, accounting for all factors in a student's life.
What do we mean in steps one to five shown above?
Data collection: You gather data on something to measure and understand its performance or behaviours. At this point, the data is messy and jumbled up.
Data preparation: You cleanse, organise, and combine the data so it’s ready to be analysed. For example, you can organise your data by characteristics like year groups, subject areas, SEND need levels.
Data visualisation: You visualise the data so people can more easily monitor and understand what’s happening. Making the data more 'high level' than all the granular, raw data you collected at the start.
Data analysis: You examine the data for insights that matter to a specific audience. Looking for associations and correlations of the data at hand.
Data storytelling: You explain your insights with narrative and visuals so they resonate and inspire change. Adding the relevant context will enlighten the insights from the data analysis and allow you to make informed decisions for interventions and support.
Having accurate and actionable wellbeing data is essential for schools to effectively support the wellbeing of their students. The aim is to identify the 'at risk' students, who show no outward signs of vulnerability, ahead of time. There are online platforms available to manage the assessments and view students' data. They also provide targeted guidance for school staff to signpost every student and reduce their risks of any emerging mental health, wellbeing or safeguarding risks. By regularly collecting data from a variety of sources, presenting it in a clear and accessible format, coupled with the anecdotal and qualitative insights from school community members, staff can track progress and implement interventions, to provide the best possible support for their students.
Let's put the wheels in motion to lessen the need to save young people drowning the proverbial river, and do what we can to stop them falling into the river in the first place.
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