Wellbeing and Executive functioning

Mental and emotional problems like distraction, anxiety and depression, loneliness, and a lack of purpose are already affecting children’s wellbeing and learning. Despite the advances in wellbeing research we lack strategies to deal with them personally, in education, and as a society. We need to learn how to be more human; better able to understand these issues and empower our children to become the architects of their own wellbeing and success.

Unfortunately most schools are teaching how to achieve success through acquiring knowledge and showing discipline and wellbeing its something “nice to have”. Saying that, there are some good examples of schools tackling wellbeing as a whole school approach and helping young people to improve their wellbeing and their mental health, just as they do with physical health. However, in the current climate schools find difficult to prioritize wellbeing and if they do its ad-hock and not always cohesive.

Minor changes, however, could enable schools to begin to think about managing wellbeing with some positive results. But wellbeing is more than just feeling good, it depends on opportunities to learn, to connect, to live without excessive stress, and to maintain body, brain, and mental health. Each of these crucial elements of wellbeing profoundly affects the others and we need to act now.

Research shows that wellbeing affects attendance, productivity, new skill learning and the ability to adjust to change at work and/or school. Only in the last few years anxiety and depression have led to a mental health pandemic and have compromised many more lives. Associated financial and emotional costs are significant—including the loss of productive human capital, the impact on families, and the associated health care expenses.

However, development of student’s executive cognitive function skills is essential for achieving wellbeing outcomes and it doesn’t get the attention needed.

What are executive function skills?

Executive function is a set of cognitive skills that are needed for self-control and managing behaviours. These skills include self-control, working memory, and mental flexibility. Such functions allow people to do things like follow directions, focus, control emotions, and attain goals. In simple terms, help children to ‘stop and think first’.  The three main components of executive function are cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control and working memory. Cognitive flexibility, particularly in young children, is related to the ability to stop and transition to another activity, and it includes the ability to know what to focus on and resist distractions. Working memory is the ability to take in, retain and use instructions (for example, keeping multiple sequential steps in mind). Inhibitory control is the ability resist acting on impulse.