St. Dominic High School Partners with Harvard University to Conduct Research on Student Wellbeing

SINT MAARTEN (SOUTH REWARD) - St Dominic High School announces its active participation in phase 1 of the "Wellbeing in Schools" project, a collaborative action research initiative aimed at enhancing student wellbeing globally. This project is sponsored and led by Harvard University, International Baccalaureate Organization, University of Oxford Wellbeing Research Center, HundrED, Jacobs Foundation, and Research Schools International. The project seeks to determine how wellbeing affects learning outcomes and measure the effectiveness of wellbeing practices in primary, middle and secondary educational settings.

The action research team from St Dominic High School, led by Teresa Mighten and comprising Pauline Thames-Baker, Sandra Givans, Sashana Pusey, and Marie T. Richardson, collaborated closely with Dr. Christina Hinton's research group from Research Schools International and The Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University. This project included 1,500 participants from 154 schools across 72 countries.

The Wellbeing in Schools project focuses on identifying key drivers of student wellbeing, including health, relationships, environment, and personal skills. By engaging in systematic action research, St Dominic High School and other participating institutions aim to develop and implement evidence-based practices that support students' mental, emotional, and physical health.

These practices will be pegged to the key drivers and target:

1. Health - Emphasizing physical activity, balanced nutrition, adequate sleep, and mental health support.
2. Relationships - Fostering positive interactions among school staff, caregivers, and peers.
3. Environment - Creating a supportive school climate and enhancing connections within the home and community.
4. Skills - Building resilience, self-esteem, optimism, self-control, and a sense of purpose among students.

The research activities included 10 monthly live sessions from September 2023 to June 2024. During these sessions, the St Dominic High School research team:

• Learned about best practices in survey design
• Contributed unique questions for the teacher survey
• Engaged in quantitative and qualitative coding of the data collected from the teacher survey in sessions 5-9
• Participated in a virtual holiday-themed party in December focused on evidence-based practices to support teacher wellbeing and how to incorporate them.

By January 2024, over 6,000 teachers were surveyed as part of the research.

Phase 1 of the Wellbeing in Schools project concluded on June 27, 2024, with a virtual conference of over 140 participants from Italy, Ghana, Sweden, Canada, Greece, Mexico, Bolivia, Serbia, Russia, India, Colombia, Spain, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, The Netherlands, Thailand, and El Salvador. At the conference, two members of the St. Dominic High research team, Teresa Mighten, research lead, and Marie T. Richardson, IB Diploma Programme Coordinator, presented their research findings. This collaborative effort ensured that insights and innovative practices that support student wellbeing at St. Dominic High were shared across a global network of schools; thus broadening the school’s international engagement.

St Dominic High School has been invited to be one of the 15 schools to continue with Phase 2 and Phase 3 (September 2024-June 2025) of the collaborative action research project. The theme is Theory of Change with each school committing to work on a school development plan structure with a focus on student wellbeing.

St Dominic High is an IB World School committed to fostering a nurturing and inclusive environment where students thrive academically, socially, and emotionally in a culturally rich Caribbean and international curriculum. The school's participation in the Wellbeing in Schools project underscores its dedication to continuous improvement and holistic student development.

For an overview of the research partners and additional information go to Research Schools International’s website: www.researchschoolsinternational.org/