Evolution of 'whole institution' approaches to improving health in tertiary education settings: a critical scoping review
In recent decades, 'whole school' approaches to improving health have gained traction, based on settings-based health promotion understandings which view a setting, its actors and processes as an integrated 'whole' system with multiple intervention opportunities. Much less is known about 'whole institution' approaches to improving health in tertiary education settings. We conducted a scoping review to describe both empirical and non-empirical (e.g. websites) publications relating to 'whole settings', 'complex systems' and 'participatory'/'action' approaches to improving the health of students and staff within tertiary education settings. English-language publications were identified by searching five academic and four grey literature databases and via the reference lists of studies read for eligibility. We identified 101 publications with marked UK overrepresentation. Since the 1970s, publications have increased, spanning a gradual shift in focus from 'aspirational' to 'conceptual' to 'evaluative'. Terminology is geographically siloed (e.g., 'healthy university' (UK), 'healthy campus' (USA)). Publications tend to focus on 'health' generally rather than specific health dimensions (e.g. diet). Policies, arguably crucial for cascading systemic change, were not the most frequently implemented intervention elements. We conclude that, despite the field's evolution, key questions (e.g., insights into who needs to do what, with whom, where and when; or efficacy) remain unanswered.
Educating the Emotions from Gradgrind to Goleman
Charles Dickens famously satirised the rationalism and mechanism of utilitarian educational ideas through the figure of Mr Gradgrind in . Even in the nineteenth century there were very few people, in reality, who would have agreed that the education of children should be a matter of purely intellectual, rather than emotional, instruction. The surge of interest in emotional intelligence and emotional literacy since the 1990s has given this topic new currency but, on all sides of the debate, it is mistakenly assumed that the idea of educating the emotions is something new. The present article retrieves one part of the forgotten history of emotional education by examining nineteenth-century British discussions about the proper places of passion, feeling and emotion in the classroom, in the context of debates about utilitarianism, religion and the role of the state. The views of educationalists and philosophers, including Samuel Wilderspin and John Stuart Mill, are considered and compared with more recent policy debates about 'Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning'. The article concludes by asking: Who are the Gradgrinds today?
Practicing voice: student voice experiences, democratic school culture and students' attitudes towards voice
The abilities of citizens to make themselves heard and listen to each other are essential for the functioning of democratic societies. Schools are practice grounds for these citizenship competences. This study investigates whether students' experiences with voice in school are related to their attitudes towards voice (contributing and listening democratically), and how a democratic school culture affects this relation. Overall, 5297 students, from 240 classrooms, in 81 Dutch secondary schools, participated in the study. Results of multilevel analyses revealed that students' voice experiences at school, their own and those of their classmates, are positively related to students' attitudes towards contributing and listening democratically. This relation is not affected by a democratic school culture. These findings underline the relevance of opportunities to practice voice at school for all students and of the social nature of practicing voice. More generally, this study illustrates the importance of understanding schools as practice grounds for citizenship.