ASCD Whole Child Down Under Webinar Series

 

Series presenter Sean Slade is director of Whole Child Programs at ASCD. He has written extensively on topics related to the whole child and health and well-being and has been at the forefront of promoting and using school climate, connectedness, resilience, and youth development data for school improvement.

During his more than two decades in education, Slade has been a teacher, head of department, educational researcher, senior education officer, project manager, and director. He has taught, trained, and directed education initiatives in Australia, Italy, Venezuela, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Teaching children the basics of reading, writing, and math is essential, of course. But children also deserve a 21st century education that fully prepares them for college, career, and citizenship.

In this webinar series, expressly designed for Australian educators to learn more about a whole child approach to education, presenter Sean Slade highlights the role of the principal in establishing a climate and culture in schools that is conducive to learning, changes to systems that enhance and prolong school improvement, steps to developing a school-improvement plan based on a whole child approach, and the need for the sectors of health and education to align in the school setting to ensure the foundational development of a healthy and safe environment.

The Role of the Principal in Developing a Whole Child Approach

This webinar presents ASCD's whole child approach to education aimed at ensuring that each child in each school and each community is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. Because principals are crucial to establishing the climate and culture of their schools and can play an important role in expanding learning beyond the academic, the webinar showcases steps and tools they can use implement a whole child approach to education.

Recorded September 25, 2012

Related resources: The Learning Compact Redefined: A Call to Action (PDF), Principal Concerns: Leadership Data and Strategies for States (PDF), Whole Child Podcast on developing principals to lead a whole child school, and the ASCD School Improvement Tool

Download handout (PDF)

A Systems Approach to Developing a Whole Child Approach to Education

This webinar focuses on providing participants with steps for systemic school improvement using the tenets of the Whole Child Initiative and its indicators. The presentation includes a demonstration of the new, free ASCD School Improvement Tool, which can help schools and districts conduct a simple needs assessment and provide next steps in the school improvement process.

Recorded October 10, 2012

Related resources: The Healthy School Communities Model: Aligning Health & Education in the School Setting (PDF), ASCD's indicators of a whole child approach (PDF), ASCD EDge social network, and the ASCD School Improvement Tool

Download handout (PDF)

A Whole School, Whole Child Approach to Health and Education

This webinar outlines steps and processes that schools can use to better align health and education, and it highlights tools that schools and health professionals can use to promote health in the school environment. Examples of where a whole school, whole child approach to education has helped improve how the health and education sectors interact and complement each other are shared.

Recorded November 14, 2012

Related resources: The Healthy School Communities Model: Aligning Health & Education in the School Setting (PDF), Healthier Students Are Better Learners: A Missing Link in School Reforms to Close the Achievement Gap, The Association Between School-Based Physical Activity, Including Physical Education, and Academic Performance, and the ASCD School Improvement Tool

Download handout (PDF)