Well-Being and Involvement

At Slough Centre Nursery, staff observe the children’s levels of well-being and involvement to assess how good they are feeling about themselves and how engaged they are with their play and learning. Knowing and understanding this helps us to make appropriate adaptations and take considered actions to ensure children are thriving and getting the best possible quality experience.

We use a tool called the ‘Leuven Scales’ to assist us in doing this. First pioneered by Ferre Laevers and his team at Leuven University in Belgium, the Leuven Scales help us to understand how focused and comfortable children are in the setting.

According to Laevers, when a child has both high well-being and high levels of involvement, then we know that both the social-emotional and cognitive developmental of the child is secured.

What is Well-Being?

Children in a state of well-being feel like ‘fish in water.’ The prevailing mood in their lives is pleasure: they have fun, enjoy each other’s company and feel ok in their environments. They radiate vitality as well as relaxation and inner peace. They have an open and receptive attitude towards their environment. They are spontaneous and feel comfortable in all sorts of situations, truly being themselves.

A state of well-being is more likely to occur when the child has self-confidence, self-esteem, assertiveness, resilience and is well in touch with their own feelings.

(Prof. Ferre Leavers et al0, 2012)

What is Involvement?

Involvement is what we observe when children are intensely engaged in an activity. Characteristics of involvement are: extreme concentration, uninterrupted attention, being totally absorbed, unaware of time. A high level of motivation, interest, fascination and perseverance. An intense mental activity, vivid sensations and an embodied sense of meaning. Deep satisfaction stemming from the fulfilment of the exploratory drive. Operating at the very limits of one’s capabilities, the ‘zone of proximal development’.

With all these characteristics we consider involvement as one of the most direct and reliable indicators for deep-level learning.

(Prof. Ferre Laevers et al, 2012)