1. Good Childhoods, Well-Being Research, Reading and Creativity
Libraries – Reading – Culture – Creativity
ASCEL conference, Nov. 2014
Dr Dorothea Mueller
03 December 2018

2. Overview Introduction: The Children’s Society and Well-being research
Ways to wellbeing for children: Reading and Creativity
What else do we know about the wellbeing of children and young people? What does this mean for libraries?
03 December 2018

3. 1. Introduction: The Children’s Society and the Wellbeing of Children and Young People
03 December 2018

4. The Children’s Society
Founded in over 130 years supporting the most disadvantaged children and families
Strategy focuses on children living in poverty and teenagers suffering from, or at risk of, neglect – well-being research underpins both areas
National network of nearly 100 programmes - including drop-in services for runaways, children’s centres and support for young carers
Aim to transform the lives of many more children by pressurising government and local authorities to change policy and practice to protect them, and challenging the negative attitudes that perpetuate harm and injustice
03 December 2018

5. Children’s Well-being Research
Started in 2005 – Good Childhood Inquiry
Positive model of children and young people
Local and national data, and impact
Child-centred
03 December 2018

6. What is well-being? How people feel, function and evaluate their lives
Feel: Amount of positive and negative emotion in your life
Evaluate: whole life, and domains (home, family, friends, school,…)
Function:
“Optimal psychological experience & functioning”
(Deci & Ryan, 2006)
03 December 2018

7. What do we know about children’s wellbeing in the UK? (1)
03 December 2018

8. What do we know about children’s wellbeing in the UK? (2)
International comparison (from a pilot study)
Briefly explain that these are only the core messages and that there’s much more to it – GCR 2014 and exec summary are both available
Mean life satisfaction among 12-year-olds in 11 countries
03 December 2018

9. What do we know about children’s wellbeing in the UK? (3)
03 December 2018

10. What do we know about children’s wellbeing in the UK? (4)
03 December 2018

11. What do we know about children’s wellbeing in the UK? (5)
03 December 2018

12. 2. Ways to wellbeing for children and young people: Reading and creativity
03 December 2018

13. What do we know about improving wellbeing?
03 December 2018

14. Finding the ways to wellbeing for children
How often do you spend time out of school…
…playing sports on a team?
…learning new things for fun (like music, languages, art or drama)?
…reading for fun?
…teaching yourself new things?
…helping our around the house?
…volunteering or helping out in your community?
…seeing friends?
03 December 2018

15. Ways to wellbeing for children and young people
Connect
Be active
Take notice
Give
Keep learning
Be creative/play
Autonomy, agency, independence, choice
03 December 2018

16. Well-being and reading
‘I really like reading my own books that are not fiction books, you can experiment with them, like I’m trying to make something at the moment with battery acid, trying to make that out of some stuff I’ve got around the house’
03 December 2018

17. Well-being and creativity
‘If you get to use your imagination, it makes you happy’
‘When you’re doing something where you can use your own imagination and you can do your own thing, like write (…) a short fairy tale (…), anything can happen in there and that makes you more excited about what you’re doing’
03 December 2018

18. 3. What does this mean for libraries?
03 December 2018

19. Ways to wellbeing in libraries
Keep learning
Connect
Give
Be active
Take notice
Be creative/play
03 December 2018

20. Other ideas of improving well-being for children and young people through libraries
Books
Space
Audience
Identity, Appearance, Gender, Cultural Norms
of learning, escape, creativity,
safety
to be and connect
Well-being and age
Representation
Inclusivity
Accessibility
03 December 2018