Wellbeing for young Scots or an excuse for data collection?

http://www.wellbeingforyoungscots.org/

The website is by and for young people to show them what is being done in schools and elsewhere to support their wellbeing. There is quite a lot being done, actually.

As well as their families and adults in the community who will be looking out for them, children are informed that head teachers, or guidance teachers, acting as named persons, will have a special role, and may sometimes use a `wellbeing wheel` to help them discuss any concerns they have. The wheel will make sure nothing is forgotten or overlooked because children must be safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible and included. Named persons would not want to miss anything out, now would they?

It is difficult to know what children in general will make of this but there is no doubt that some will find the prospect alarming. I am thinking particularly of those more introverted children who value their private space and dislike being the focus of attention. I imagine being under the all-knowing gaze of the named person day in day out in school will not be good for their wellbeing.

CfE ensures that health and wellbeing is covered in the curriculum and all teachers are responsible. With so much attention drawn to wellbeing there is the danger of giving the message to children that their wellbeing is a fragile thing, or that they just cannot measure up to the standards.

More likely they will spot adult insincerity when they see it. How about this?

Unless there were serious worries about your safety, the Named Person would nearly always speak to you before sharing information with other people.

Nearly always?

The whole point of this approach is to involve you in decisions that affect you. There might be some occasions when your Named Person (and perhaps others) need to make a decision for your own safety and protection but in most cases you will be fully involved. And there might be a time when someone else is worried about you and thinks your Named Person should know what’s going on.

Know what`s going on? That`s a sly one; it could mean anything. For 16-year-olds the message gets more hypocritical: they will be old enough to vote but not mature enough to avoid the prying eyes of the named person until they are 18. What does that say about being respected and responsible as aspects of their wellbeing?