The role of the school in supporting students' social-emotional wellbeing: the importance of role clarity from a school professionals' perspective

In 2014, the Dutch educational Act was amended, aiming for a more inclusive approach, giving schools more responsibilities, however lacking clear guidelines. Therefore, schools are searching for ways to approach inclusive education and student support. This study revolves around the central question: “What is the role of the school in supporting students’ social-emotional wellbeing?’’ Research shows that mental health and wellbeing are crucial for development and being resilient. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2015, children and adolescents need a balanced set of cognitive, social, and emotional skills to achieve positive outcomes in school, in work, and in life more generally. This statement is supported by many others throughout the years (Minam & Tanaka, 1995; Pollard & Lee, 2003; Mc Lauglin, 2008; Roffey, 2010; Kutsyuruba et al., 2015; Porsdam et al., 2016; Michalos, 2017).
Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection together with contextual data to support the understanding of the data from the interviews, to explore the school professionals understanding of this concept. According to the literature, schools have a prominent role in protecting children’s wellbeing through systematic social and psychological support, thus, the role of the school becomes more societal. Interpretative Phenomenon Analysis was used to analyse the forty-eight in-depth interviews of school professionals, and findings indicate that there is no commonly used definition of social-emotional wellbeing. Findings also indicate a unified approach in how school professionals try to understand their role in supporting students’ social-emotional wellbeing with the use of personal narratives. Analysing the interconnection between the key themes of personal narratives, mental health, measuring wellbeing, collaboration and context, and role clarity revealed the complexity of working with the concept of social-emotional wellbeing within education and the underlying risks for students. Recommendations were made for further research and development.