Effectively implementing engagement and wellbeing policies in schools

Prescribed national curricula, state-wide implementation strategies and region specific mandated pedagogies may achieve consistency in Queensland secondary schools but to the detriment of student engagement and wellbeing. With such minimal focus on pastoral care, more students experience alienation, loneliness, low self-esteem and stress, resulting in challenging behaviour, disengagement and elevated student expulsion and dropout rates. This paper discusses the major findings from qualitative study that examined the rhetoric-reality gap that exists when implementing engagement and wellbeing policies in Queensland state secondary schools. This research attributes the rhetoric-reality gap to idealistic policy rhetoric, broad policy aims without actionable steps and generalised implementation that dissociates from policy objectives. This paper concludes that engagement and wellbeing needs to be foregrounded in state wide policies, engagement programs need to be implemented and teachers and students need to achieve agency in policy making if we are to bridge the rhetoric-reality gap. Read the full paper here.