Education Policies Supporting Students' Learning and Well-being

Summary Education authorities can play an important role in supporting schools and teachers to assess and overcome students' learning barriers and socioemotional challenges. In nearly all European education systems, top-level authorities have issued policies and measures to facilitate the identific...

Summary Education authorities can play an important role in supporting schools and teachers to assess and overcome students' learning barriers and socioemotional challenges. In nearly all European education systems, top-level authorities have issued policies and measures to facilitate the identification of students' learning and social-emotional support needs. Most of these initiatives ensure the availability of guidance and/or counselling services that either work in schools or in close cooperation with schools and are tasked with evaluating (and addressing) students' learning difficulties and disadvantages, any behavioural, socioemotional or family problems, etc. Policies or measures that are related to procedures for determining students' special education needs are also very widespread; they include pedagogical, physical and psychological evaluations of students. Slightly more than one third of the education systems report that education authorities provide specific guidelines and/or tools that can be used by schools and teachers for assessing students' learning and social-emotional needs, respectively. The former includes, for example, guidelines/tools for the early identification of students' learning difficulties or the prevention of drop-out; the latter are mainly guidelines/tools aiming to assess and promote the well-being of all students, or sometimes specific groups, such as learners from Ukraine. Some education systems also report, in this context, diagnostic national tests to assess the learning needs of individual students and guidelines or tools to identify students who need language support. National or top-level policies and measures can, moreover, facilitate the actual provision of learning and social-emotional support to students in schools. Most education systems report having policies and measures promoting learning support, and in particular targeted support interventions for specific groups of at-risk students. Policies or measures on socioemotional support are also widely reported; however, they tend to be more universal (i.e. intended for all students), rather than targeted to the needs of specific student groups. Overall, most targeted learning and/or socioemotional support policies and measures are focused on students with special educational needs or disabilities. This is followed by policies and measures targeting refugee, migrant and ethnic minority students (especially Roma students), and then students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds. Only a few education systems report top-level policies and measures on learning and/or social-emotional support targeting girls or boys, and even fewer education systems report relevant policies targeting LGBTIQ+ or religious minority students. It should be noted that students who are provided with additional support measures often have several characteristics associated with different learner groups -- as was already highlighted by the concept of intersectionality (see Chapter 1). For example, the same learner may have special needs and an ethnic minority background. This underlines the importance of ensuring a comprehensive assessment and a variety of support interventions that address the particular learning and development needs of each learner. Teachers play an important role in the implementation of policies promoting diversity and inclusion in education. They can be key actors when it comes to recognising students' learning difficulties and needs, fostering their learning outcomes and strengthening their social-emotional skills and well-being. ITE programmes can help to ensure that teachers have the necessary knowledge and skills to fulfil these tasks. CPD opportunities are also essential to prepare and support teachers to work with a diverse range of students and implement principles of inclusion in the classroom (UNESCO, 2018). Increasing the diversity of the teacher workforce can also have positive impacts on learners, especially on those from under-represented groups. Combined with the help of educational support staff, such as teaching assistants or specialist staff, these measures can ensure the provision of learning systems and interventions that help all learners achieve their educational potential (OECD, 2023).