Le bien-être des élèves et leur réussite scolaire et extrascolaire dépendent de leur capacité à utiliser leurs compétences pour une culture de la démocratie.


Comme le bien-être comporte de nombreuses facettes, l'amélioration du bien-être des élèves à l'école exige une approche scolaire globale, impliquant à la fois les enseignants et les parents.

Les écoles devraient dispenser des cours axés sur l'utilisation responsable d'Internet, la nécessité d'adopter un mode de vie sain et les moyens de prévenir ou de traiter les problèmes de santé, en collaboration avec les personnes concernées, y compris les services sanitaires et sociaux, les autorités locales et les organisations de la société civile.

 

Faits & chiffres

Environ 60 % des élèves indiquent être très tendus quand ils étudient.[1]

Un peu plus de 60 % de filles et 40 % de garçons se disent très angoissés avant un contrôle, même s’ils se sont bien préparés.[2]

Plus de 70% des parents déclarent qu’ils choisiraient d’envoyer leurs enfants dans un établissement scolaire dont les résultats aux examens sont inférieurs à la moyenne si leurs enfants y sont heureux.[3]

Qu’entend-on par bien-être ?

Le bien-être désigne un état général de bonne santé et d’épanouissement. Il englobe la santé physique et mentale, la sécurité physique et affective ainsi qu’un sentiment d’appartenance, de raison d’être, d’accomplissement et de réussite.

Le bien-être est un vaste concept qui recouvre une variété d’aptitudes physiques et psychologiques. On distingue cinq grands types de bien-être :

  • Le bien-être émotionnel – aptitude à faire preuve de résilience, à gérer ses émotions et à ressentir des émotions sources de sentiments positifs
  • Le bien-être physique – aptitude à améliorer le fonctionnement de son corps grâce à une alimentation saine et à une activité physique régulière
  • Le bien-être social – aptitude à communiquer, à nouer des relations satisfaisantes avec les autres et à créer son propre réseau de soutien affectif
  • Le bien-être au travail – aptitude à défendre ses intérêts, ses convictions et ses valeurs afin de donner un sens à sa vie, d’être heureux et de s’enrichir sur le plan professionnel
  • Le bien-être sociétal – aptitude à participer activement à une communauté ou à une culture.

Le bien-être général dépend dans une certaine mesure de l’ensemble de ces facteurs[4].

« Avoir un sens et un but est essentiel au sentiment de bien-être d’une personne. Le bien-être ne se résume pas qu’au bonheur et le succès va bien au-delà de la réussite à un examen[5]».

En quoi le bien-être à l’école est-il important ?

Le bien-être à l’école est important, car les écoles ont un rôle essentiel à jouer pour aider les élèves à faire des choix de vie sains et à comprendre l’influence de leurs choix sur leur santé et leur bien-être. L’enfance et l’adolescence sont des périodes déterminantes pour le développement d’attitudes durables qui auront une incidence sur le bien-être personnel et les choix de vie. Les compétences sociales et émotionnelles ainsi que les connaissances et les comportements que les jeunes acquièrent en classe leur permettent de développer leur résilience et déterminent la façon dont ils géreront leur santé physique et mentale tout au long de leur vie.

L’école est le lieu où les élèves ont accès à des informations fiables et apprennent à appréhender au mieux les choix qui s’offrent à eux. Elle est aussi le lieu où les élèves acquièrent les compétences intellectuelles nécessaires pour mener une réflexion critique sur ces choix et sur l’influence que la société exerce sur eux, s’agissant notamment de l’influence des pairs, de la publicité, des réseaux sociaux, de la famille et des valeurs culturelles.

Bien-être et réussite scolaire sont étroitement corrélés : le bien-être est en effet une condition préalable indispensable à la réussite et la réussite est essentielle au bien-être. L’activité physique améliore l’apprentissage et la concentration. Des relations solides et sûres donnent aux élèves les ressources émotionnelles nécessaires pour sortir de leur « zone de confort » intellectuel et découvrir de nouvelles idées et façons de penser, ce qui est fondamental pour la réussite scolaire.

Le bien-être est également important pour le développement de compétences démocratiques essentielles. Les émotions positives développent la flexibilité et l’adaptabilité, l’ouverture aux autres cultures et croyances, le sentiment d’efficacité personnelle et la largeur d’esprit, compétences qui sont toutes au cœur du Cadre de référence des compétences pour une culture de la démocratie du Conseil de l’Europe

Quelles sont les difficultés qui se posent ?

Le bien-être revêt de multiples facettes et c’est un aspect dont il importe de tenir compte si l’on veut le promouvoir à l’école. Il existe différents types de bien-être et il convient de contribuer dans une certaine mesure à chacun d’eux pour créer un sentiment général de bien-être chez une personne. Aussi n’est-il pas possible d’améliorer le bien-être des élèves à l’école par des interventions ou des initiatives isolées. Il faut plutôt développer une « culture » du bien-être à l’échelle de l’école et mobiliser l’ensemble du personnel, enseignant et autre, ce qui peut être difficile à réaliser.

La promotion du bien-être peut parfois sembler incompatible avec les autres priorités de l’école, comme le niveau scolaire. Des attentes déraisonnables, un rythme soutenu de contrôles ou une importance excessive accordée aux résultats scolaires peuvent en effet nuire au bien-être des élèves.

Bien souvent, les établissements scolaires ne sont pas libres d’apporter les changements qui favoriseraient le plus le bien-être des élèves. Ils n’ont par exemple parfois qu’un droit de regard limité sur les examens et contrôles formels, le contenu des programmes, la durée de la journée d’école ou l’environnement physique de l’école.

Ils n’ont pas non plus de prise sur les nombreux facteurs extrascolaires qui influent sur le bien-être des élèves. Ce qui se passe à la maison et en famille, dans la collectivité ou sur les réseaux sociaux peut avoir autant, sinon plus, d’influence sur le bien-être des élèves que tout ce qui se passe à l’école.

Enfin, il est d’autant plus difficile pour les élèves de développer un sentiment de bien-être lorsque le personnel de l’école lui-même n’éprouve pas ce sentiment. Le bien-être au travail est fortement lié au stress. Le stress au travail est lié à la charge de travail, à la qualité des relations professionnelles, au degré d’autonomie, à la clarté des rôles de chacun, à l’existence d’un soutien et à la possibilité de participer aux changements qui ont une incidence sur la vie professionnelle. Un niveau élevé de stress peut générer une démotivation, une insatisfaction au travail et des problèmes de santé physique et mentale, ce qui peut se répercuter sur le bien-être des élèves.

Que peuvent faire les écoles ?

Pour œuvrer au bien-être de leurs élèves, les écoles doivent tout d’abord aider chaque élève à se sentir reconnu et considéré comme une personne à part entière et faire en sorte que la scolarité ait un sens et un but pour eux. Elles peuvent pour ce faire prendre plusieurs mesures à petite échelle qui, cumulées les unes aux autres, exerceront une très forte influence sur le sentiment de bien-être des élèves. Elles peuvent notamment :

  • donner la possibilité à tous les membres de la communauté scolaire de participer véritablement à la prise de décision à l’école, par exemple, en organisant des consultations, des enquêtes d’opinion et des référendums, en élisant des représentants de classe, en constituant des parlements d’élèves, des groupes de réflexion, en organisant des séances de rétroaction en classe sur les activités pédagogiques et en donnant la possibilité aux élèves de choisir des enseignements et des méthodes pédagogiques ;
  • créer un environnement accueillant où chacun à l’école se sente soutenu et en confiance, en proposant des activités constructives, par exemple, des clubs, des sociétés, des groupes d’intérêts et des associations où les élèves peuvent aborder les questions qui les concernent, notamment la santé ;
  • prendre des mesures pour réduire l’anxiété des élèves liée aux examens et aux contrôles en introduisant des formes d’évaluation moins stressantes (évaluations formatives, évaluations par les pairs par exemple) et en associant les élèves à l’identification de leurs propres besoins en la matière ;
  • recourir à des méthodes pédagogiques propices à la création d’un climat positif en classe et au bien-être (par exemple, apprentissage coopératif, méthodes axées sur l’élève, autogestion du temps, activités extérieures) ;
  • ménager dans le programme des possibilités d’évoquer les questions de bien-être avec les élèves (par exemple concernant une alimentation saine, l’activité physique, la consommation de substances, les relations positives) ;
  • intégrer la citoyenneté démocratique et l’éducation à la compréhension interculturelle dans différentes matières scolaires et activités extrascolaires, par exemple l’ouverture à d’autres cultures en éducation religieuse, la connaissance et la compréhension critique des droits de l’homme en sciences sociales, l’empathie en littérature ;
  • introduire des méthodes de gestion des conflits et des approches du harcèlement mises en œuvre par les élèves eux-mêmes (par exemple, médiation par les pairs, justice réparatrice) ;
  • améliorer l’environnement physique de l’école afin qu’il soit plus convivial pour les élèves (par exemple, nouveau mobilier et nouveaux aménagements, espaces moquettés, couleurs adaptées, toilettes sécurisées, espaces récréatifs) ;
  • encourager une alimentation plus saine en proposant un choix d’aliments sains à la cantine scolaire, par exemple en évitant les aliments trop sucrés et trop salés et les graisses saturées ;
  • travailler en collaboration avec les parents pour améliorer les résultats et la motivation des élèves, sur des questions comme une alimentation saine, une utilisation sûre d’internet et la communication entre la maison et l’école.

Les initiatives individuelles de ce genre peuvent être fédérées au niveau de l’école au moyen d’un processus d’élaboration des politiques qui place le bien-être au cœur des préoccupations de l’établissement. Il faut pour cela s’intéresser aux effets potentiels des nouvelles politiques sur le bien-être de chacun – élèves, enseignants et autres personnels. La promotion du bien-être des élèves à l’école et la protection de la santé et du bien-être des enseignants et des autres personnels de l’école ne vont pas l’une sans l’autre.
 

[1] OECD (2017). Résultats du PISA 2015 (Volume III), p.40. Le bien-être des élèves. Paris, France

[2] Ibid.

[3] Cowburn & Blow, ‘Wise up - Prioritising wellbeing in schools’

[4] Psychology Today, Janvier 2019.

[5] Hargreaves & Shirley (2018), ‘Well-being and Success. Opposites that need to attract’.

  Ressources pour améliorer le bien-être à l'école

Retour Primary school Osnovna Šola Gornja Radgona

Address: Prežihova 1, 9250 Gornja Radgona

Country: Slovenia

 School website

Project: "Students writing their own school constitution"

 Working language during the project:

  • Slovenian
     

 Themes of the Council of Europe campaign “FREE to SPEAK, SAFE to LEARN - Democratic Schools for All” covered:

  • Making children’s and students’ voices heard
  • Improving well-being at school

 Competences from the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (CDC) addressed and where / how they were integrated:

  • Knowledge and critical understanding of the world: politics, law, human rights
    • Through the process of writing their class or school constitution, students learn about the content of a constitution, its meaning for citizens, and its role in a democracy.
  • Valuing democracy
    • Through the process of writing their class or school constitution, students learn about valuing democracy and put into action those key principles of democracy that establish rules for life in a democratic society. By doing so, they develop a better understanding of the role of the Constitution for creating and sustaining democracy, increase their competences in democratic decision-making.

 Target group age range:

  • 11 - 15

 Level of education:

  • Primary education
  • Lower secondary education

Short description of the project:

Citizens do not always fully understand the meaning and role of the state’s constitution -- one of the key elements of democracy -- because they don’t recognize it as a summary of founding principles, rules and values of democracy, which regulates the functioning of a democratic state and the life of its citizens. It is a founding document in which citizens can learn about their rights, the state structure and functioning, constitutionality and laws, etc. To address this problem, we motivated the students and teachers of our primary school to write a constitution for their class or school.

In order to present and simplify more complex articles in the constitution, we used an illustrated version of a constitution: Constitution in Comics. The main characters, Miha and Maja, present selected articles of the state constitution in a clear and simple way, through examples using everyday situations. During this stage, students learn about the structure and functioning of the government, human rights, basic principles of the democratic decision-making process… They gain an insight into the content, complexity and importance of the document for a democratic State.

In the next step, students compared elements of the State Constitution with procedures used in the school. In this activity, the teacher used questions to direct students to compare and contrast State structure and school structure, State symbols and school symbols, the national anthem and school anthem, the official language of the State and of the school, children's (students') rights and responsibilities, laws in the State and rules in the school, and procedures to change the State Constitution and school Constitution. This activity helped students identify the key elements that should be included in their own class or school Constitution.

During the next activity, students studied documents about Slovenian laws that regulate the Constitution, as well as articles on education that were discussed in the previous activity. Teachers guided students and, when needed, helped them search for corresponding documents (acts and rules on education, school rules, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Act on Founding the School Institution, rules on students' rights and obligations in primary school, a syllabus for the subject of citizen and homeland education and ethics, etc.).

For the next activity, students were divided into working groups. During this time, the working groups narrowed their study to just one field or one clause of the constitution, choosing from general articles, human rights, state structure, constitutionality and lawfulness, or constitutional changes. They read once more the selected articles from the State Constitution and studied the documents that regulate these topics in the school process. They suggested and prepared articles for their class or school constitution. In this activity, the teacher reminded students to bear in mind that their articles had to be based on democratic principles, that they should be aligned with human and children's rights, and that they should be applied equally to all students. Working groups drafted the articles and sent them to the whole project group for adoption.

The draft articles were then revised by all project participants, who had the opportunity to suggest and discuss possible changes. Finally, they voted on the articles. If the majority of the present students voted for the article, it was adopted. The article could be rejected with the possibility to amend it by sending it back to the working group, after which it could be resubmitted for approval. At this stage, the objective was for students to learn and put into practice the key principles of democracy by setting up democratic rules or articles for the group, while modelling democracy during the exercise. They also realized the need to establish the rules one needs for life in a democratic society.

Next, the group wrote the preamble to the Constitution. The students read the preamble as a group, discussed it with the teacher, and learned about the meaning of its content. On the basis of what they read and the discussion, the group prepared a draft of the preamble, in which they stated reasons for writing the school or class constitution and listed its authors.

During the final step, students made decisions about the articles that were previously rejected, rewritten by the group and then sent back for approval. At that point, the class Constitution came into force as an internal document valid for all participants of the school process.
 

 Aims/objectives

  • Through the process of writing their class or school Constitution, students learn about the content of a Constitution, its meaning for citizens, and its role in a democracy.
  • They also learn about and put into action those key principles of democracy that establish rules for life in a democratic society.
     

 Expected results/outcomes

  • Students develop a better understanding of the importance of a State Constitution in creating and sustaining democracy, increase their competences in democratic decision-making, and realise the importance of including human rights in the document.
     

 Changes

  • The final school Constitution was the result of a project through which students, teachers, parents and representatives of the local community could search for information about general provisions of the school, school rules, students' rights and obligations, rights and obligations of other participants in school processes, and the school structure. The impact of the project and the school Constitution was positive. All participants of the school process accepted the Constitution.

  • The evaluation of the project was carried out in a survey. Project participants and users of the constitution evaluated the content’s appropriateness, everyday usage and role in developing education for democratic citizenship and human rights. The evaluation of the survey showed that the important articles – which were included in the school constitution – are easier to use when they can be found in just one document, as opposed to many different documents. 82% of the student respondents consider the school constitution as very useful in everyday school life. The evaluation can be further carried out on a daily basis by observing the students' behaviour in relation to their promotion of democratic values and human rights, insofar as they live by the articles and values they included in the school Constitution.
     

 Challenges you face(d)

  • At the time of writing the constitution, we faced several challenges and barriers. One of the challenges was to present the complex content of the State Constitution, its meaning, and its role to students of this age group. Fortunately, not long before the project, an illustrated State Constitution was published, which made it much easier for students to relate to the document. Students explored the role and meaning of the State Constitution through the process of writing their own Constitution and by accepting and promoting the rules and principles upon which the documents are founded.

  • Another challenge was the need to focus only on the most important documents, among the many that regulate school processes, and to search for possible connections with the State Constitution. At this stage, students needed to be motivated to tackle the large number of documents and information. It was a challenge to incorporate a variety of ways to write and approve articles on democratic principles, since through the very process of writing the constitution, the students developed and internalized the principles and values.

  • Composing the text of the constitution regarding children's (students') rights was also a challenge because the students did not fully understand the importance of ensuring equal rights for all. By focusing on their rights, the students often forgot the imminent connection of their rights to their duties. It was necessary to explain and present the history and content of the most important international documents in relation to human and children’s rights. The aim is to learn the importance of the documents and enable subsequent acceptance of human and children's rights, not only for their own benefit but the benefit of the whole group.
     

 Time-frame of the project:

  • One school year
     

 Council of Europe materials on citizenship and human rights education used while preparing or implementing your practice:

  • Living Democracy - manuals for teachers
  • Democratic governance of schools
  • Compass
  • Compasito
  • Human Rights and Democracy Start with Us – Charter for All

Projets des écoles sur ce thème

Retour School: Osnovna škola Gradac

Address: Kralja Tomislava 2, Gradac

Country: Croatia

 School website

Project: The Good Mood School

Working language during the project:

  • Croatian
     

Themes of the Council of Europe campaign “FREE to SPEAK, SAFE to LEARN - Democratic Schools for All” covered:

  • Making children’s and students’ voices heard
  • Preventing violence and bullying
  • Improving well-being at school
     

Competences from the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (CDC) addressed and where / how they were integrated:

  • Conflict-resolution skills:
    Composing the anthem with lyrics based on the class rules and plays with problem situations from the class that related to the rules, pupils learned how to communicate in nonviolent way and efficiently solve the problem situations. The same was applied to the sport tournaments. workshops for training pupils-referees, pupils were taught appropriate cheering and behaviour at sports meetings.
  • Self-efficacy:
    The proposal on improving the functional and aesthetic appearance of the school and its surrounding were made by a group of pupils and it was supported by Pupils' Council. The pupils' representatives visited the mayor and the president of the Gradac Tourist Board and introduce them our project. In this way they gained their support and some project's goals were achieved with their help.
  • Co-operation skills:
    With a help of volunteers from the local community we arranged a part of the school garden as Sunny Garden and the other part as The Good Mood Garden. With help of the municipality we improved the school sport fields. We also arranged Sunny Corner, a place in the school where pupils can have a rest, play games and socializing.
     

Target group age range:

  • 5-11 and
  • 11-15
     

Level of education:

  • Primary education

Short description of the project:

Aims/objectives

  • developing nonviolent communication and tolerance
  • developing respect and appreciation of diversity
  • improving pupils' confidence, self respect and generally emotional status, improving wellbeing in school

The Good School Mood is the common title for projects that have been conducted in Primary School Gradac (Gradac, Croatia) during last nine years. Apart from other aims, all of them addressed prevention of violence and bullying. As a starting point we can indicate implementation of a programme for the prevention of peer violence and bullying which was conceived by UNICEF together with Croatian experts, For a Safe and Enabling Environment in Schools - Stop Violence among Children. We chose to join this programme because we recognized it as a good tool in fighting bullying and violence that we experienced in the school. After completion of this project, we have continued to create and implement projects which main aim is to improve well being of our pupils and generally to create a positive and stimulating atmosphere in the school. The first one was Our Rules, which some of aims were developing nonviolent communication and tolerance and respect and appreciation of diversity. Through composing the anthem with lyrics based on the class rules and plays with situations from the class that related to the rules, pupils not only learned how to communicate in nonviolent way, but also developed their creative potential and improved self-respect and self-confidence. By the next project Sport Heart we addressed inappropriate behaviour at sport meetings. Project plan included interviews with our pupils – athletes, workshops for training pupils-judges, designing and making props, composing fan song and organising tournaments. We continued this project within the framework of the former EU LLP and in cooperation with six partner schools from European countries we created and implemented the project Euroball. Through the central task of making rules for new sport game, we again encouraged appropriate behavior on sport grounds and directed pupils to healthy lifestyles. The project Let's Live Healthily and Grow up Happily was oriented on raising awareness of the importance of proper nutrition and regular physical activity for growth and development of communication skills.

From our previous projects we learned that if we improve a sense of communion, encourage the working atmosphere and improve the functional and aesthetic appearance of the school and its surrounding, the rate of bullying and violence will lower. This is a reason why we created the project The School is my Sunny Home. Since our school had not a logo, a motto and a dress code, we decided to ask all pupils to give their proposals. The commitee which one member was a representative of the Pupils Council made the final decision. With a help of volunteers from the local community we arranged a part of the school garden as Sunny Garden and organized Sunny Corner, a place in the school where pupils can have a rest, play games and socializing. (Our school celebrates the School Day on Day of Sun – 3rd May.) From pupils’ responds we understood that there is still room not only for improving our school atmosphere and functional and aesthetic appearance but also to improve cooperation with the local community. As a part of the project The Good Mood School we again arranged a part of the school garden – The Good Mood Garden with the reflexology path which is together with the choice of colours and scents of indigenous herbs in the function of relaxing its users. The municipality of Gradac financially supported upgrading of the school sport fields. Our school decorated a bench on the Gradac waterfront by our school colours and the school logo. In this way we brought school closer to our fellow citizens and guests. After completion of each project we asked pupils to fill an evaluation form. Feedback was generally positive and violence and bullying rate was low.
 

Expected results/outcomes

  • lower rate of violence and bullying
  • creating a positive and stimulating atmosphere in school
  • developing awareness of pupils’ own capabilities

All mentioned projects were continued through workshops, sport events, drama classes and further improving of the functional and aesthetic appearance of the school. The projects fulfilled their expected outcomes, in the first place the rate of violence and bullying became lower. This helped to make the school as a safe place with stronger sense of communion and better working atmosphere. Together with improving the functional and aesthetic appearance of the school and its surrounding, we created a positive and stimulating atmosphere which helped our pupils to develop awareness of their own capabilities. The consequence is increasing of their self-respect and self-confidence.
 

Changes

  • increasing of pupils taking initiative
  • improving a sense of communion
  • encouraging the working atmosphere
  • improving cooperation with the local community
  • improving of the functional and aesthetic appearance of the school (as a contribution to a better school atmosphere)

From our experience if we want to prevent violence and bullying, we do not need necessarily to deal only with this topic and prevention have to be included in the curriculum of all school subjects. Any achievment in improving pupils' confidence, self respect and generally emotional status leads to lower rate of bullying and violence. These projects helped us not only to improve of the functional and aesthetic appearance of the school as a contribution to a better school (working) atmosphere but also to improve the cooperation with the local community. Again, the sense of communion was improved, our pupils were taking initiative more frequently and became more aware of their own capabilities. All of these lead to lower rate of bullying and violence.
 

Challenges you faced

Main problems that we have experienced were lack of motivation of some teachers, some other workers in the school and some pupils because any initiative which is aside the regular curriculum is considered as an extra burden. Sometimes the problem is the finance which is not planned for projects like these.
 

Time-frame of the project:

2011-2018
 

Council of Europe materials on citizenship and human rights education used while preparing or implementing your practice:

  • Living democracy-manuals for teachers
  • Bookmarks
  • Human Rights and Democracy Start with Us – Charter for All
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