From evidence to practice: preparing teachers for wellbeing

Since 2000 the Australian government has actively supported, initial teacher training and in-service preparation of, teachers to contribute through their day-to-day practice to the social and emotional wellbeing and learning of children and young people. Response Ability is the pre-service component of this activity, and its purpose is to support tertiary education institutions in their training of education and care professionals. Its scope encompasses early childhood, primary, and secondary teacher training in university and vocational education. Response Ability aims to enable tertiary educators (e.g. lecturers, tutors, and course coordinators) to raise awareness and build the capacity of the future teaching workforce. Response Ability is designed to firstly empower teacher educators and students; secondly to build capacity in their professional capabilities; and finally to transform the behaviour and culture of the university profession so that the inclusion of social and emotional wellbeing in education and care becomes a regular feature of professional teacher preparation. This chapter will examine the approach taken by Response Ability (www.responseability.org) and will look at the key lessons learnt from the development of this intervention and consider how teacher education programmes in Australia, and internationally, could most effectively integrate issues relating to young people’s wellbeing, personal development, and social and emotional learning into initial teacher education.