AREA OF LEARNING AND EXPERIENCEHealth and Well-being

Progression within the Health and Well-being Area must enable learners to revisit and deepen learning in concepts within the statements of what matters across a wide range of topics and aspects of health and well-being. Learners’ contexts, their personal concerns, interests and circumstances will all have an impact on what enables them to progress and the pace at which they progress. This is particularly relevant in the context of feelings and emotions.

Increasing effectiveness as a learner

Learners progress by developing their independence and agency in matters relating to health and well-being: resulting in a growing responsibility for their own health and well-being. Support from peers and supporting adults is an important enabler of progress and as learners progress in an aspect of well-being, progression includes developing the capacity to recognise when help is needed, and where and how to seek that support. Increasing effectiveness also means increasing self-regulation: recognising their feelings and adopting strategies to respond to these in a healthy way. As learners develop progression in effectiveness will include a developing ability to make, justify and evaluate decisions across the range of statements of what matters.

Increasing breadth and depth of knowledge

Progression will mean learners developing an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the fundamental concepts outlined in the statements of what matters and of a range of aspects, topics and issues relating to their health and well-being and that of others. Progression will require learners to revisit aspects, topics and issues, developing knowledge at a deeper level. Learners’ knowledge of these aspects also progresses from the concrete to the abstract: understanding consequences, implications and underlying principles. This progression supports learners to develop conceptual knowledge and critical understanding in a range of aspects of health and well-being and personal behaviour.

Deepening understanding of the ideas and disciplines within Areas

As learners progress, they develop an appreciation of the significance of a range of aspects of their health and well-being that are contained within the statements of what matters and what can influence these aspects. Viewing different aspects and topics related to health and well-being through the lens of different statements of what matters. As such, progression means learners developing an increasing understanding of how the statements of what matters interlink and being able to apply these in exploring and understanding a variety of topics and issues.

Refinement and growing sophistication in the use and application of skills

Progression means learners developing their confidence, motivation competence in a skill, developing increasing accuracy and proficiency.  Progression in health and well-being occurs across a wide range of skills, including: physical, emotional, psychological and social skills.  This will also include more practical skills that also support learners in their health and well-being.  The development of many skills will rely, to some extent on learners’ wider developmental milestones. This is reflected in descriptions of learning: earlier progression focuses on learners developing awareness of a range of skills and later progression supports increasing accuracy, complexity and proficiency in those skills.

Making connections and transferring learning into new contexts

As learners progress, they develop connections between aspects of health and well-being and a wide range of topics and issues. This is underpinned by a deepening understanding of the statements of what matters, recognising the underlying common themes and principles between different issues, both within the Area and within learning in other Areas. As learners progress, the variety, complexity and nuance of the contexts they consider increases, in line with their needs, experiences and wider development. Across the continuum of learning, a critical step for learners in health and well-being is transferring understanding from their own well-being to that of others; becoming more socially responsible.  Progression means learners developing an appreciation and regard for the needs of others and the impact of decisions, actions and circumstances on them. The development of empathy, care and respect for others is critical to this. As learners become more socially responsible, they progress from primarily considering themselves, to considering others, both in their own relationships with others and in wider local, national and international contexts, developing the capacity of advocacy on behalf of themselves and of others.