Becky Dawson talks with Dr. Sue Roffey about the essential connection between wellbeing and achievement in education. The discussion centres on Dr. Roffey’s book, Aspire to Well-being and Learning for All.

The episode explores the compelling idea that well-being underpins not only mental health but also engagement with learning.

Dr. Roffey highlights that education is not just about cognitive development, but also the social, emotional, and self-development of every individual, emphasizing that there is no dichotomy between well-being and learning. Drawing on decades of positive psychology and well-being research , she introduces the ASPIRE principles as crucial for creating schools that are “child ready” rather than demanding children be “school ready”. The conversation delves into practical examples from schools that are successfully embedding these six principles, achieving great outcomes by changing how they do things, which includes boosting staff wellbeing. Dr. Roffey also discusses the importance of parent-carer voice and the power of focusing on positive relationships and intrinsic motivation to combat the “loss of love of learning”.

Listen to it at this link.