The prospect of chairing the Health and Well Being Excellence Group was daunting to say the least but turned out to be one of the most interesting, informative and inspiring projects I’ve ever been involved with.

Many factors contributed to this, not least the wide range of backgrounds represented on the group, ranging from health professionals, quality improvement officers, practitioners from all sectors including colleges and a university professor, to representatives from LTS and Scottish Government. The range of knowledge, experience and skill on the group was outstanding.

 This range of backgrounds, however, presented our most challenging task; what was our individual role in this task and what could we as individuals contribute?

Those of us from an education background were painfully aware that our knowledge in health was scant compared to our colleagues on the group from a health background, while those from a health background had the same perspective on their knowledge of education and learning and teaching. But this was the very reason for bringing such a range of professionals together – to share that knowledge and expertise and apply it to health and wellbeing in curriculum for excellence.

The combination proved electric! We kept the focus on what would be helpful for practitioners and education establishments and were able to identify the key issues and where more support is needed. Looking at the issues from so many different perspectives was hugely helpful in our task.

We had one common driver; each of us was only too aware of Scotland’s health issues but shared the informed view that education can make a substantial contribution to helping young people develop the skills and attributes to support better health and wellbeing. 

Linda Kirkwood
Chair, Health and Well Being Excellence Group
(covering those aspects which are the responsibility of all)