What factors help to determine well-being in young children? How do children develop levels of psychological resilience that allow them to overcome stress and adversity? To what extent are well-being and resilience critical to student achievement and future success? These key questions are addressed by the Pinkie Resilience Project, which brings together international experts in education, psychology, the arts, medicine, education policy, epidemiology and history to 1) discuss how well-being and resilience have been nurtured in different historical and geographical contexts; 2) determine how schools best support wellbeing and nurture development; and 3) select interventions to test in a pilot project based at Pinkie St Peter’s Primary School (PSPPS) in Musselburgh, East Lothian.
The project's ultimate objective is to initiate a pilot project aimed at enhancing wellbeing, fostering resilience and increasing opportunities in young (3-6 year old) children at PSPPS, a goal which aligns closely with Scotland's 'Curriculum for Excellence'.
This programme comprised 4 activities:
- An international, inter-disciplinary symposium where a wide range of historical and contemporary interventions aimed at boosting wellbeing and resilience in young people will be discussed.
- A smaller meeting consisting of local team members to discuss which of the interventions are the most feasible
- A workshop to develop and troubleshoot interventions
- A meeting involving local team members to develop a funding bid for the pilot project at PSPPS