Post on 15-Aug-2020
transcript
THE J.W. MCCONNELL FAMILY FOUNDATION
Wellbeing and Schools: A Social Innova4on Lab Approach
DASH BC Healthy Schools Leadership Symposium -‐ May 4-‐5, 2015
Vani Jain, Associate Program Director
Agenda
• Background • Issue & Focus Area • What is a Social Innova?on Lab? • Key Aspects of this Lab • Projected Rollout in BC • How to Get Involved
Background
• About the McConnell Founda?on • Began developing an ini?a?ve in child and youth mental
health in 2013 – saw the poten?al in schools as a seSng • Highly consulta?ve process:
o 150+ key informant interviews o Survey of 1460 teachers, students, administrators, parents o Policy scan – reports + over 50 interviews o Literature review o 2 na?onal convenings o Design team of 7 people from across Canada
• Itera?ve, responsive approach to ini?a?ve development • Approved end March 2015
Issue & Focus Area
• Driven by two considera?ons: o Comprehensiveness -‐ addressing the en?re school popula?on o Integra?on – embedded rather than an add-‐on
• Role of philanthropic sector in advancing wellbeing in schools as a
catalyst and convenor
Ra4onale: • Interested in advancing the work
of schools in mental health and wellbeing at scale. o 15,000 schools o Thousands of programs o Dozens of different topics
Issue & Focus Area Scope/framing: • Began with the term “mental health” but later shiaed to wellbeing
o Social-‐emo?onal wellbeing outcomes influenced my many factors
• En?re student popula?on/upstream • Focus on building assets, not just reducing deficits
o Link to future vision for Canada
• Schools as a seSng rather than “what can schools do”
Issue & Focus Area Focus area: • What we heard:
o “What does/can your school do” vs. “What do/can you do” o Rela?onships, connectedness, school-‐community connec?on, family
engagement, student leadership all influence wellbeing o Not simply about doing “more” – need to do “different” o School environment, culture and values must support wellbeing
• Where we decided to focus: Sustainable, scaleable approaches that o Aren’t dependent on many addi?onal resources o Build on assets and capabili?es of schools, educators and partners o Can become part of the school’s DNA
• Increase the evidence base of these everyday strategies to beher understand what makes a real impact on wellbeing
What is a Social Innova?on Lab?
• A neutral plaiorm/process to drive collabora?on and change – not a new en?ty or program!
• Engages a variety of perspec?ves
• Collabora?ve approach to idea development and implementa?on
• Longer-‐term ?me horizon • Goal of systems change
CAPACITY-‐BUILDING
Key Aspects of this Lab Different from current approaches such as: • Networks: Labs are about surfacing new ideas together, not
just exchanging knowledge. • Task forces: Labs go beyond genera?ng recommenda?ons -‐
they are resourced to implement ideas quickly. • Gran?ng programs: In a lab, projects are co-‐designed and
proposed by diverse groups, not by individual organiza?ons. • Consulta?ons: Labs do more than just ask people with lived
experience what they think. In this lab, ci?zens and stakeholders will be engaged in crea?ng new solu?ons together.
• Steering commihees/advisory groups: This lab will go beyond a select number of people to engage the masses.
Key Aspects of this Lab
Principles: • Mass par?cipa?on – Mul?ple opportuni?es for engagement
= collec?ve ownership over the process and outcomes. • Equal voice – Par?cipa?on as people, not organiza?ons. • Co-‐ownership – Shared leadership, feedback and input into
decisions. • Transparency – Sharing the process, results and learnings
openly to drive and disseminate change. • Emergence – Focus on outcomes. Change moves at the
speed of trust. • Capacity-‐building – Promote long-‐term sustainability, help
advance exis?ng system-‐level efforts
Key Aspects of this Lab
Hypothesis:
Collec?ve ownership over ideas and process
+ Focus on the work that happens naturally
+ Increased shared understanding of what works
= Sustainable change at scale
Key Aspects of this Lab Other points: • Na?onal ini?a?ve with a tailored approach to each province
o Projected two years in each province o BC only in Year 1, up to 3 provinces/year in Years 2-‐5
• Prototyping as both a means and an end o Systems change – fostering a sense of collec?ve responsibility and
joint ownership, empowering mul?ple agents of change o Research – improving our understanding of what ac?ons make a
difference and how they happen, shiaing the evidence base
• Informal, inclusive approach to par?cipa?on o No “table” – more like a party! o Open invita?on to contribute and collaborate, rather than formal
roles
• Start with most passionate, innova?ve people and work outwards
Key Aspects of this Lab Building upon current work: • Not about reinven?ng the wheel! • Taking exis?ng data and success stories to
o Frame scope of BC work (e.g. design sessions) o Filter through proposed ideas
• Some ideas proposed may have already been tried. This is an opportunity to: o Make them collec?vely owned o Measure their effec?veness and beher understand why they work o Share them widely across Canada
Projected Rollout in BC -‐ TBC
May-‐August 2015: Implementa?on planning • Communica?ons, engagement tools • Par?cipa?on and public engagement strategy • Research framework – na?onal and local • Iden?fy school districts
August-‐September 2015: Co-‐design sessions • Provincial design session at 2015 Summer Ins?tute (250 people) • Local design sessions in par?cipa?ng districts
October-‐December 2015: Prototype selec?on and implementa?on planning • Process for iden?fying most high-‐poten?al ideas • Local research support
January-‐June 2016: Prototyping • Data collec?on • Site support • Community engagement • Capacity-‐building
July-‐August 2016: Prepare for Year 2 • Knowledge mobiliza?on • Second round of school districts • Lessons learned
How to Get Involved
• Developing mul?ple ways to engage: o Helping inform implementa?on o Spreading the word to your networks o As a par?cipant in a co-‐design session o Providing input into prototype selec?on o As an implementa?on partner for a prototype (school
board/school) o As a researcher/evaluator o As a champion/conduit for wellbeing in schools o As a capacity-‐builder
More info to come!
Ques?ons/Comments
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E-‐mail me: vjain@mcconnellfounda?on.ca
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