Why Is Wellbeing Education Important?

Why Is Wellbeing Education Important? This is what some people claim Mankind has lived for thousands of years. As generations grow, we are becoming more and more aware of the harmful effects illness and stress impact on our bodies. Our awareness of the need to take the necessary steps to achieving a healthier lifestyle and prolong our life span is also growing. The number of diseases rising around the world makes it vital that people apprehend the importance of leading and living a healthy life. They believe health is accomplished by eating healthy food and exercising, but this is only one part of the healthy living process. There is more to being healthy and achieving an overall wellness and wellbeing than just eating well and exercising. Different elements assemble the human beings overall health, these elements are referred to as the six dimensions of health physical, psychological, spiritual, social, intellectual, and environmental. This report will discuss and define each of the six dimensions to provide adults with an understanding of the dimens ions in hope of protecting our children from illnesses and diseases, and providing them with a more stable and a better future. Background Why is this report needed? Explain the six dimensions of health (Donatelle, 2006) and use this to explain to the reader why wellness and wellbeing are important in early childhood education and care. The early childhood years sets the foundation to how children view themselves, each other, and the world around them. Their character which will develop further as they grow older begins in those early years. For this reason it is vital for Early Childhood Professions to understand the six dimensions of health in order to support childrens development in achieving wellness and wellbeing. Bronfenbrenner believed children are influenced by the ecological system, (the system of relationships that form his or her Environment) particularly the microsystem (the immediate environment, e.g. family or school) Bronfenbrenner, 1998. He mentioned that positive emotional interactions and experiences between caregivers and children are crucial for the development of social and emotional wellbeing in children. Donatelle, 2006 said The motivation to improve quality of life within the framework of ones own unique capabilities is crucial to achieving health and wellness. As childrens services or early childhood settings fit into the microsystem stage of the child, it becomes imperative for us to set the building blocks for children to achieve the optimum wellness and wellbeing. Our interaction and experiences play a key role in their development, but what is wellness and wellbeing?. Donatelle, 2006 identified wellness and wellbeing as follow; Physical heath : the way we function using our bodies, how sharp our sensors are, how fit we are, the ability to catch diseases and disorders and the ability to recuperate from illness and regain health, Intellectual health: Mentally healthy , the capacity to think with clear judgment, the ability to learn, the ability to grow from experience and the ability to make critical decisions. Social heath: the ability to socialise and interact well with others, the ability to adjust to situations at different levels Emotional health: the ability to recognize and express feelings appropriately, the ability to control and balance these feelings with yourself and others. The ability to feel good about yourself, love and trust. Environmental health: the ability to appreciate the world around you and to recognise the role you play in effecting the environment. They believe Spiritual health: the ability to have faith, hope, and belief. The ability to connect with the world around you as one, to love and respect nature and to feel the love and pain of the world. Discussion Discuss each dimension of health and explain what is happening or not happening to support childrens wellness and wellbeing in your service. Wellness is a state of optimal health that is working towards or trying to maximize the individuals potential to achieve a vibrant state of wellbeing and enjoyment of life. This is a lifetime process of working towards enhancing your physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, and environmental wellbeing. When we think of Wellness and Wellbeing, it is good to remember that all aspects of the six dimensions impact each other. Although every dimension is important in its self, it is the balance that gives each individual the optimum wellness and wellbeing. For example if a person focus on his/her physical health and neglects the emotional health, the physical health would deteriorate soon after. Keeping an overall balance and a holistic approach would give us a higher chance in achieving wellness and wellbeing. Factors that affect our Wellness and wellbeing. The individuals attitude and behaviors. Heredity and family history. The influence of the people around you, positive and negative. Health care availability. Lets have a closer look at each dimensions and how does the centre cater for the dimension. Physical health; Physical health is most visible to us and the easiest to keep an eye on. It would probably be the one dimension we pay more attention on, than any other dimension. If we eat well balanced nutritious food and exercise regularly, minimise the consumption of harmful foods such as alcohol and cigarettes, the chances of us catching diseases are reduced but not eliminated. How can it be achieved? Exercise least 30 minutes a day. Eat lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, Replace bad fats with healthy fats, such as those found in olive oil Visit your dentist regularly Seek medical attention when required Maintain a healthy lifestyle. Centres approach to physical health; The centre aims to: Facilitate physical development by providing activities which foster fine and gross motor skills. Provide children with 50% of their recommended dietary intake Provide a healthy eating environment Provide children with healthy food habits Provide water throughout the day Provided children with a balance of active and quiet activities The centre focuses on providing children with a balanced nutritious food but fails to promote and link the importance of staying active to the physical health. Very little discussion is provided about health and fitness. Intellectual health; Intellectual health is our ability to perceive and process information accurately and the ability learn and Interact with the world around us. To achieve an intellectually healthy life, we must have the wish to learn and to have an interest in what is going on around us. Intellectual health also involves problem solving and creativity. How can it be achieved? Keep your mind active with learning Participate in creative and problem solving activities. Read the news each day. Paint and draw. Build something with your hands. Work out a crossword puzzle each day, it can help keep our brains on alert. Centres approach to intellectual health; The centre aims to: Facilitate intellectual development by providing activities and experiences which allow children to experiment, think and question the world around them and develop their problem solving skills. Encourage children to develop a positive attitude towards learning, responsibility, self-discipline and self-esteem. Design activities which allow children to develop their capabilities and interests at their own pace and according to their individual need. Social health; . Socially healthy people engage, interact, and co-operate well with each other. That includes friends, family, co-workers and other groups. Being comfortable with oneself as well as others at different levels and maintaining relationships. How can it be achieved? Learn ways to relate with others. Practice communication skills. Try to be the kind to your friends or partner. Be considerate and mindful of others. Centres approach to Social health; The centre aims to: Facilitate personal and social development by group experiences with peers, friendly interactions with adults and activities which promote their sense of independence. Develop programs which enhance childrens social and emotional skills Emotional health; The ability to understanding our feelings and emotions and finding vigorous ways of expressing them .Emotional wellness is one of the most important aspects of the six dimensions. It should be one of our main focus points of life in order to accomplish wellbeing. In order to be healthy or have good physical health you must have a good foundation of emotional wellness. You can notice this in your everyday life, by just noticing how having a good day or a bad day effects you physically. How can it be achieved? Learn to recognize your limitations. Practice different ideas to create healthy relationships with others. Maintain a sense of point of view. Learn to deal with emotions such as sadness, anger, or frustration. Centres approach to emotional health; The centre aims to: To help children recognise their feelings and emotions. Encourage children to express feelings and emotions appropriately. I dont believe the centre is doing enough to cater for the emotional wellbeing in children. I think a lot more can be done to facilitate positive emotional development. (Refer to recommendation). Environmental health; Environmental health is to appreciate and respect the natural environment around you and do whatever you can to protect it. How can it be achieved? Better understanding of the environment finding ways to minimise the waste going to the landfills such as donating clothes and donate computers and mobile phones to organisation. Recycling Centres approach to environmental health; The centre aims to: Promote the understanding and importance of recycling and energy saving. Reuse material for childrens activities. Promote environmental education in childrens everyday learning experiences Role model the positive environmental approaches in daily routines such as reducing energy output and the use of water. Spiritual health; The ability to know that life is meaningful and has a purpose. Our morals, values and ethical believes guide us to making decisions and the direction to life. How can it be achieved? Take some time to discover your morals and believes. Try to stick to your believes during difficult times. Believe in yourself Centres approach to spiritual health; The centre aims to: Families are encouraged to share their culture, language and home experiences. Promote each childs culture and language, and facilitate experiences whenever possible Provide an environment that is anti bias and caters for the childs cultural, family and linguistic diversity. Promote equality by maximising the educational outcomes for all children, regardless of their gender, cultural backgrounds or socio-economics. . International Business Case Study: Skoda Company International Business Case Study: Skoda Company INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS CASE STUDY IN SKODA COMPANY What was the key weakness that Skoda was able to identify? Answer: Skoda able to identify Brand Position was one of the weakness for Skoda in the highly competitive fragmented market by positioning the brand as low budget or low quality vehicles which caused Skoda to get 1.7% of the market share, because the company used to manufacture cars of poor image of quality, design, assembly, and materials, which leaded customers to perceive the brand image as poor image for majority consumers compare to other competitors like Ford, Peugeot, and Renault. By looking business model, example General Electric business model that say business organisation can determine its self by looking factors like Business Strengths (strong or average or weak) in the market and industry attractiveness (high or medium or low) at that market. According to that model that means the Skoda had probably weak business strength and its industry attractiveness was probably strong in the market. The analysis gave clear direction to Skoda that there is need to Partnership with Volkswagen by raising strategic alliance between themselves which leaded the Skoda to change the negative image in the market. Also Skoda management did understood that they need to correct old perceptions by stop being defensive in promotional campaigns and change market message as Skoda owners need to be happy and contented with their cars, Also convincing users that Skoda cars were great to own and drive. What strength did Skoda use to turn its brand weakness into on opportunity? Answer: Skoda researched through asking customers directly and using independent surveyors like JD power survey by testing customers feelings through questionnaires .Skoda able to position its brand where there was a gap in the market place against their competitors because competitors they where focusing in product it self. Skoda partnership with Volkswagen AG helped the Skoda to gain internal strength due to combinations of skills and knowledge in both companies, also the Volkswagen has got good reputation on its business, Page 133 on the case study. Satisfaction of its customer by business concentrating on owner experience, future strategic development and marketing its brand image through designing to sales, satisfaction of their customer came after producing brand image which has got quality and happy to driver to own that brand, example of Top gears 2007 customer satisfaction survey in 152 models viewers voted number one car maker and 2008 Octavia model won auto express driver power best car, Skoda knows 98% of its drivers would recommend Skoda to a friend, page 133 134, on the case study. That shows the out come evidence of Skoda over come the weakness and built the strength which leaded to opportunities. Advantage through technology also was best strength for Skoda by using focusing strategy, as Michael Porter model of Competitive Advantage (cost leadership, focused low cost, differentiation, focused differentiation) Skoda adopted the strategy of focused differentiation in niche market, organisation can adopt a strategy to compete against other competitors, technology made Skoda to over come weakness and gain strength to opportunity by differentiate in unique selling proposition through human touch designed of its brand car engines and focused on customer experience. How has Skoda strategically addressed external threats? Answer: After careful analysis Skoda able to addressed external threats. One, Skoda UK was able to ensure that its messages were powerful enough for customers to hear within such a crowded and competitive environment my using slogan of the manufacturer of happy drivers so they can able to maintain the market share. Skoda able to produced strong range of product in the UK and globally such as; Skoda fabia sold as basic but quality car, Skoda superb as more luxurious and up market appeal, the Skoda Octavia as estate provides a family with a fun drive but also a great big boot, all these brand were UK market segments. Page 135 on the case study. Pricing, Skoda priced all brands according to model range that means Skoda looking to satisfy their customers according to different groups within the main stream of the car market, Also combination of competitive pricing and brand range gave advantage to overcome the threats of other competitors. EU Legal and Environmental regulations made Skoda able to addressed the threats by using the advantage of technology to produce products which are environmental friendly at every stage of their life cycle. By producing Skoda products which they can recycle as much as possible and through identification of their parts which are marked quick and easy when the car taken apart, Using latest most environmentally friendly manufacturing technologies and facilities available, example use of lead free and water based colours to paint areas to protect against corrosion, By designing processes that will cut fuel consumption and emissions in petrol and diesel engines. Using lighter parts to make vehicles as aerodynamic as possible to use less energy. By designing cars with lower noise levels and improved sound quality, Pg 135 on the case study. What in your view are the important benefits of using a SWOT analysis? Answer: SWOT identify Superiority of organisation in the market place, swot helps organisation to know how best it is in the market place by looking example the brand image of the company in the market against other competitors brands. Also SWOT help to determine Staff expertise, loyalty and commitment in the organisation. Example pg133 first paragraph, Skoda management they were looking a foreign partner so company management can gain expertise in Cars manufacture. SWOT help to build good reputation for service or quality, as in case study Skoda build strength by design cars with their own experience and brand image, pg 134. SWOT also helps to guide organisation in future strategic development which will bring advantage to organisation. Technology adoption, helps organisation to change it operation by gaining advantage through technology which can reduce costs or improve production. Helps to give gap idea within market when organisation wants to position a product or services in the new market. Helps to understand customer needs by looking their perception on companys product and if product or services the company supplies to them are well get satisfied. Example on the case study of JD Power survey and Top Gear explained how management of Skoda identified their strength of customer satisfaction to the market place, Pg 133. Helps to understand competitive activity, by looking other competitors in the business environment. Helps organisation able to respond for changes in government regulations or legislation, example in the case study Skoda able to respond to EU legal and environmental regulations by producing products that are environmentally friendly at every stage of their life. Also help to determine supply demand, example shortage of raw materials.