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Private school head defends wellbeing lessons

Posted on 12th June 2008

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An independent school head has defended comments criticising the "therapy culture" that has developed in Britain's schools.

In The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education, Kathryn Ecclestone and Dennis Hayes of Oxford Brookes University raise concerns that schools are "infantilising" pupils at all levels of education due to an excessive focus on their wellbeing, according to the Times Higher Education.

However, Anthony Seldon, master of Wellington College, where wellbeing lessons have been in place since 2005, hit out at the report.

"Since we started wellbeing lessons our A-level results have gone up from 64 to 86 per cent of students getting As and Bs," he told the publication.

Nonetheless, the academics cautioned that the education of children and the quality of teaching could be undermined by more focus on emotional aspects, including introducing counsellors and support officers to schools.

State schools across England will be introducing wellbeing lessons, following an announcement by schools secretary Ed Balls last year.
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