“Wellbeing” seems at first like a thoroughly uncontroversial word, especially in schools. Who, after all, wouldn’t want to ensure pupils’ wellbeing?
Yet that word became a bone of contention in Parliament last week - because, it seems, no one knows exactly what wellbeing is.
And this is not a matter of mere semantics. Teachers are deeply concerned about a lack of precision around such terms in relation to the under-fire Named Person scheme and the legislation it stems from. Without more clarity, educators fear, they could make mistakes and find themselves in legal trouble.
The Named Person scheme would provide each under-18 in Scotland with a single point of contact - often a teacher or headteacher - to oversee their welfare. But it hit a bump in the road last year when the Supreme Court in London ruled that the scheme could “give rise to disproportionate interferences” in family life.
Lack of clarity
Several educators gave evidence last week to the Scottish Parliament’s education and skills committee on the Children and Young People (Information Sharing) Bill, when they expressed concern about a lack of clarity over what was expected of them.
A written submission from the Scottish Council of Independent Schools (SCIS) stated: “While the bill aims to bring ‘consistency, clarity and coherence’ to the practice of sharing information about a child’s wellbeing, there is an inherent issue: the definition of wellbeing is so broad that different practitioners will interpret this in various ways.”
SCIS said that the new legislation’s expectations of schools regarding issues of “significant wellbeing concern” were a “grey area” that should be “more clearly defined before any rationale for information sharing can be determined”.
Maureen Falconer, Scotland regional manager for the Information Commissioner’s Office, was asked to clarify the legal requirements that allow information to be shared about a child when wellbeing - rather than child-protection concerns - is the issue.
“Therein lies the conundrum,” Ms Falconer said. She added that there was a “little grey area” between a risk of “significant harm” to a child and a minor wellbeing issue that would not cause them harm.
Alison Preuss, a coordinator of the Scottish Home Education Forum and part of the No2NP (No to Named Person) campaign, told Tes Scotland after the meeting: “Wellbeing is not defined and has been said yet again today to be subjective, therefore it can’t possibly meet the requirement for precision in law.”
She said the situation was a “dog’s dinner”, which could end up back in court. She predicted that teachers would have to field many complaints from parents over subjective wellbeing information about their children.
The National Day Nurseries Association, meanwhile, said that there was anxiety among early-years staff over the legal status of named persons and what precisely their duties entailed.
‘Anxiety and frustration’
Primary headteacher and EIS teaching union representative Lorraine McBride, when asked by the committee whether increased paperwork could lead to mistakes being made, said: “If headteachers are not supported in this process, things can get missed.”
She said that headteachers were concerned about the expectations that were being placed on them and what happens if someone gets something wrong.
The perceived lack of clarity around wellbeing appears indicative of broader concerns. The Scottish Guidance Association, for example, advised the committee that, while it had been “largely supportive” of Scotland’s Getting It Right for Every Child approach, “the lack of consistency and clear direction from leaders, has caused anxiety, frustration and unmanageable workload issues within the [teaching] profession”.
The association’s president, Lisa Finnie, said last week that there was probably a need for the Named Person scheme, but that it suffered from inconsistent approaches around Scotland. Gillian Fergusson, a depute rector for pastoral care representing SCIS, said there was confusion around when a parent could opt out of the Named Person scheme.
A Scottish government spokeswoman said: “The Named Person functions are integrated into and clarify the role of promoted teachers who already have responsibilities for providing advice, information and support to children and parents.
“We will continue to provide full support to all those who are involved in implementing this legislation, which will ensure children and young people get the right support, from the right people, at the right time.”
