ERIC Number: EJ787634
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007-Dec
Pages: 18
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0311-6999
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Learning to "Become Somebody Well": Challenges for Educational Policy
Wyn, Johanna
Australian Educational Researcher, v34 n3 p35-52 Dec 2007
This article argues that education has a role in promoting young people's wellbeing. It draws on research on young people's lives to highlight the changing world for which educators prepare young people. While older educational agendas such as literacies and numeracy remain significant, it is argued that education is increasingly important for its role in assisting young people to develop the capacities and skills that will enable them to live well and that will enhance social cohesion. Although these more recent social agendas are often acknowledged in significant policy documents, their enactment in schools is compromised by economistic policy imperatives that see young people primarily in terms of their capacities to attain labour market skills that will ensure Australia's international competitiveness. I make a link between the work that young people do to make themselves, and wellbeing, highlighting the role that education plays in shaping identities--and in enabling them to "become somebody well". The article concludes that health and wellbeing are marginalised in school curricula not because of a "crowded curriculum" but because not all elements are given equal value within our current policy frameworks.
Descriptors: Young Adults, Role of Education, Well Being, Education Work Relationship, Sociocultural Patterns, Foreign Countries, Educational Policy, Labor Market, Career Development, Vocational Maturity, Educational Objectives, Self Concept, Identification (Psychology)
Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE). P.O. Box 71, Coldstream, Victoria 3770, Australia. Tel: +61-0359-649-031; Fax: +61-0359-649-586; e-mail: aare@aare.edu.au; Web site: http://www.aare.edu.au/aer/contents.htm
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Adult Education
Audience: Policymakers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A