1. Dr Maeve OBrien,St Patricks College 1

2. Understanding the Significance of WellBeingAnd why are you so firmly and triumphantly certain that only what is normal and positivein short wellbeingis good for man? Is reason mistaken about what is good? After all, perhaps prosperity isnt the only thing that pleases mankind, perhaps he is just attracted to suffering. Perhaps suffering is just as good for him as prosperity.Dostoyevsky, 1983, 41 (Notes fron the Underground)2 3. OverviewArguing for WellBeing and a CarefulSocietyExploring Wellbeing and quality of lifeincluding the area ofrelationships, the work of care theorists and researchersMaking the case for the affective context of life and care in public andprivate contextscare and citizenship, and the wellbeing of societyCare as a good for wellbeing and education: Raises issues ofdistribution, recognition, power and resourcesCare, wellbeing and education a new ethics and ethical practices insecondary sphere of care relationsInterrelationship between care, wellbeing, education and socialjustice3 4. The Significance of the Affective Domain toUnderstandings of WellBeingAllardts (1993) sociological welfare model Having, Loving and BeingEquality Model (2009)economic, cultural, affective and politicalcontexts care, love and solidarity are forms of relationship whichoccur across primary, secondary and tertiary care contexts primary,secondary and tertiary care.Nussbaum and Sens human development work: The CapabilitiesModelrelationships are based in emotions which make us fullyhuman care as a capabilityPsychoanalytic perspectives on wellbeing: care experiences and carerelations, Intersubjectivitythe ethical subjects capacity to care(Benjamin, Hollway, 2005)4 5. Care Scholarship Concepts and WellBeingFeminist moral philosophers and political theorists suggest thatrelationships of care are based in inescapable states of dependency,interdependency and vulnerability (Tronto, Bubeck, Nussbaum,Kittay, Sevenhuijsen, Fraser, Fineman)A very different view of the human being and of human flourishingrelative to the post modern rational conception of a detached rationaleconomic actorA different conception of a citizen, .as having care needs and thecapacity to care, to be caring and to have caring ethical dispositions.Care as crossing the public private divide..the withering away of thestate and care!5 6. Making Human Vulnerability Explicit: TheVulnerable Society and its InstitutionsFinemans (2008) theorisation of the human subject as vulnerable andinstitutions as also vulnerable education and schooling(we need to)..to redirect focus onto the societal institutions that arecreated in response to individual vulnerability. This institutional focushas the effect of supplementing attention to the individual by placinghim/her in social context. The institutions that are of particularinterest are those that are created and maintained under thelegitimating authority of the state, since the ultimate objective ofvulnerability analysis is to argue that the state must be more responsiveto, and responsible for, vulnerability. (ibid: 13).6 7. Key Issues for wellbeing: responding tovulnerability, dependency and interdepenenceTaking care seriously as key to wellbeing means considering:Relationships and the private space of lifework/life balance.Whatcounts as workcare as work, the nonrecognition of care in the home,defined as love, as naturalThat problem that care has been dichotomised as love or labour andnot as bothWhat does that mean for educators and for schooling?Nell Noddings, wellbeing and happiness as an aim of educationtheneed for care and to learn for relationality. Teachers in particularcontextssocial disadvantage, teacher education.7 8. Gender Inequalities, Care and WellBeing: withinpublic and private institutionsWomen, wellbeing and caring identities, identity and the moralimperative to care(Bubeck, Delphy and Leonard, Lynch et al., OBrien)Men and exclusion from care (Hanlon, 2009)Women in the home and the imperative to perform educationalsupport work (Lareau, 1989, Griffith and Smith, 2005, Reay, 1998,OBrien, 2005, 2008)Schooling teaching and caring, what is valued, recognised andrewarded? (Farrellys (2008) work on walking the tightrope of care). 8 9. Caring and Resourcing Wellbeing in EducationResourcing Caringthe issue of nurturing and emotional capitals(Lynch, 2008, Reay 2000, OBrien, 2009)How these are created and used.Perspectives of those under the care of educators. Listening tostudents.Intersection of caring contexts and socio economic and culturalcontexts(Feeley, 2009, state harm) (OBrien, 2009, social class, poverty,marginalisation and care)9 10. Intersection of Capitals for Care and WellBeingEconomic, Social,Cultural and Emotional Resources (see OBrien 2009)MASHA EC ELLIE 4BRIGIDMAISIEKAY 3NUALADOREENLINDA 2KATERUTH 1SARAHJANETANNA EMC 0CCRITAPAULINEVALTRUDIROSELAURADONNAMARIEMAURACONNIENOREENNELL SC 10 11. (Lack of)WellBeing and Schooling Lack of focus and a need to focus on aims of education (Noddings critique) Education needs to be concerned with a broad conception of well being (in mainstream and alternative provision) Climate and culture of the schools are significant to wellbeing, and related to curricula, streaming, assessment and quality of relationships (Konu, Lintonen and Rimpela, 2002friendship and absence of bullying for SWB, Engels, Aaelterman, Van Petegem and Scepens, 2004 teachers relationships impact on student wellbeing) Equality and wellbeing: resources, recognition, power and affectin education, the impossibility of an internal settlement (Baker et al.11 2004) 12. 12 13. Contested and Multiple Well-Being and Schooling-current Well-Schooling-Perspectives on Well-BeingWell- thinking and problematics Happiness as Eudaimonia-the good life or Eudaimonia-Hedonistic happiness and Subjective well- Happiness as an aim of educationbeing. (Noddings, 2003) and/or education for aDefining or prescribing norms of well-beingcompetitive market and the need for publicas problematic for individual meaningdialogue around thisseeking. The need for education for self- development The tensions and overlaps between SWB and for participation in democracy and forand social indicator perspectives-need for perspectives- citizenship, social solidaritysubjective and objective perspectivesEquality and Well-being-care and love (Baker Well- being- (For well-being and equality across allet al. 2004) contexts of life including intimate and social spacesCapabilities and Well-Being (Sen, 1993) Well- For our unique sets of functionings and for flourishing within our societal contextHaving, Loving and Being (Allardt, 1993) To have skills, resources to participate in society, for relationships and for being in our unique ways Achieving health of populations through critical literacyAs part of the Allardt model:The problem for teachers and students ofHealth Promotion and the WHO agenda, acquiring the cultural power and tools ofhaving health in Allardts model analysis to define our reality13 14. Educating for WellBeing and Democracy Educating in and for care (Cohen, 2006, OBrien and Flynn, 2008, Lynch, 2008, Feeley, 2009, OBrien forthcoming 2010). Character education and the virtues and caring climates (Cohen)a need for social, emotional, ethical and academic education SEEA but not to be reduced to mere lists of skillspractical education (Dewey) Health Promoting Schools MovementWHO/ Mental Health14 15. ConclusionsRecognising the significance of affective life and human relationalityintersubjectivity and vulnerabilityRecognising caring or affective resources and skills and the capacity toand for careRecognising the labour in relationships of care and the attendant costsRecoding care as gender neutral and extending informal care workoutside the nuclear family to extended networks of affiliationRecognition of affect in schoolsaims directed at wellbeing and practicecurricula and evaluation that are responsive to models of wellbeingindividual and collective aspects of wellbeing15 16. Which Model of Citizenship? What kind ofteacher?Fraser 2000 The Citizen Carer as opposed to Citizen Breadwinner or acombination Citizen Carer/WorkerA citizen who is recognised asvulnerable (Fineman) and in need of care and also capable of caringfor othersThe Teacher Carer Citizen: Language of care and Relationalitylanguage can be used for purposes of liberation or of subjugation(Wittgenstein, Irigaray, Freire), we need a language of care, wellbeingand relationality in the field of education that is recognised andleads to care praxis. 16