Simple Practices | Safety & Well-being in public schools

Easy practices sparking safety and well-being for children, educators and parents in public schools.

Student mental health has become a strong priority in schools, but educators are not provided with relevant tools to support this emerging need. Simple Education Foundation’s innovation equips educators with easy practices to integrate overall well-being into their daily lessons. These practices also benefit educators and parents' own well-being, enabling them to better support students.

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Overview

Information on this page is provided by the innovator and has not been evaluated by HundrED.

Web presence

2020

Established

1M

Children

1

Countries

Target group

Students early

Updated

May 2024

We envision a future where every child feels safe and continuously grows in schools led by skilled and compassionate educators. Our aim is to foster collaboration among educators, parents, and principals, creating a thriving environment where children become self-aware and harmoniously adapt to a changing world.

About the innovation

Why did you create this innovation?

121 million children study in India’s primary government schools. As schools reopened after the pandemic lockdowns, students struggled to reorient themselves inside the schools, while educators struggled with balancing health protocols and student wellbeing. Our innovation provided educators with daily practices to navigate this situation and support student well-being, even after the pandemic.

What does your innovation look like in practice?

Simple Education Foundation partners with educators, parents, principals and governments to build impactful practices and training for public school educators.
At the beginning, student needs are identified along with the educators and principals of the school. After identifying the needs, relevant well-being practices are introduced to educators. Educators are provided with co-planning, modeling & co-teaching support to integrate practices like feelings check-ins, classroom agreements and daily appreciation seamlessly into lessons. Regular educator debriefs determine differentiated next steps, while digital observation forms help capture data. Celebrating students, appreciation notes, and dedicated educator/parent celebration spaces cultivate safety.
The innovation uses researched, evidence-based well-being practices which are then contextualised for effective scaling across diverse settings.

How has it been spreading?

These well-being practices build trust across different relationships: students-educators-principals, schools-families setting the foundation for well-being. Classroom safety levels improved across classrooms in Delhi & Uttarakhand’s partner schools. Significant shifts in students’ openness to express, share feelings and use of new vocabulary were observed.
When adults themselves experience safety, they can better enable it for students. Educators felt appreciated in quarterly surveys and consistently integrated well-being practices in daily lessons. This also enabled stronger academic learning.
Well-being practices are part of our statewide SCERT training program, reaching 40000+ educators.
In the next 3 years, we aim to strengthen 1m educators towards students' experiences.

If I want to try it, what should I do?

We offer step-by-step documentation, educator & principal frameworks, impact reports, and learning resources. Some of our materials are freely available on social media, annual reports, YouTube, and research papers, some may be made available upon request. We share our work at conferences, collaborative platforms, and through research papers. Contact us via email; we respond within 3 working days.

Media

Simple Practices: "How are you feeling?" https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sefconnect_simplepractices-voiceofhope-safety-activity-6970598338043744257-gs-B?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios

Simple Practices: A powerful question: "How are you feeling?" https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch7FTqdP1Jp/?igsh=NXF1eHBsZzl6d3Zw

Beginning of academic year 2024-25: Warm and welcoming classroom culture https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5XamUZhZ4a/?igsh=Z2tvdWFwZGppZGoz

A glimpse into the life of students and educators in our Uttrakhand partner schools. https://www.instagram.com/reel/Crk4suWAKhl/?igsh=MTRyZ3kyZnU2dDgxbQ==

Extending Safety and Well-Being during student assessments https://www.instagram.com/reel/C34_S1Ry3lo/?igsh=MTE3MmU4Z2Y1aGhrdQ==

Education in Times of COVID: Bringing Social-Emotional Learning to Mobile Education | THE BASTION

No Curfew For Education: An SEEL integrated home activity launched during COVID-19 lockdown for children and parents to spend quality time at home. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEyxaboHO1Q

Implementation steps

Relationship Building

Knowing our educators and students is crucial. Relationship building and safety is at the core of this innovation. Any meeting, space or conversation with educators, principals or students start with a feelings check-in where they share their feelings for the day. Semi-structured conversations with educators and students then follow, along with needs assessments for first-time interventions may be done to understand student and classroom needs.

Co-creating strategies with Educators

Alignment with educators is the next stage, anchored in classroom needs based on students' data and everyday facilitation. A strategy or practice is then introduced to educators to meet these needs. Well-being practices may be introduced as standalone activities or integrated with curriculum, for promoting a sense of belonging and safety. This is done through one-on-one coaching conversations, small group spaces, followed by lesson co-planning, co-teaching and modeling for implementation.

Well-Being Practices in the classroom

-Educators open the lesson with a feelings check-in using feelings chart or another well-being prompt to understand how students feel
-Classroom norms are set collaboratively with students for inclusive engagement, reiterated throughout the day.
-Well-being practices such as Energizers, brain breaks, call & response are used based on students' energy levels
-Continuous appreciation and acknowledgment of student actions maintain a safe environment
-Close with celebration and synthesis

Well-being for Educators & Parents:

The same well-being practices extend to morning huddles and staff meetings for educators, and Parent-Teacher Meetings and School Management Committee meetings for parents. Well-being circles and celebration spaces are regularly held with principals for educators and parents. Home routines and practices for children's well-being at home are shared with parents. During classroom observations, principals and visitors provide appreciation notes to educators, fostering a culture of recognition.

Debrief, Data and Reflection

Post-implementation debriefs with educators allow for reflective discussions on highlights and focus areas.
Periodic data collection on classroom safety, educator practices and school culture is done to monitor effectiveness and evaluate impact of these practices. Data is shared through reflective spaces and conversation to identify best practices which maybe shared with larger community of educators. Additional need based well-being and reflection check-points are done with educators.