PERMA-DIGITAL: A Whole School Approach to Digital Well-being

ongoing

A large body of evidence from the WHO, and OECD show a declining well-being among adolescents and teachers, coupled with worsening school performance and teacher shortages. Deteriorated well-being has been linked to digital technology misuse. As digital education becomes integral, ensuring digital well-being is a key EU priority. In response, a cross-sectoral and balanced consortium of three research centers (CARDET, IoD, KMOP), two universities (JYU, UCD), two pan-European networks (European Schoolnet and ALL DIGITAL), and a technology provider from 5 countries, join forces to propose PERMA-Digital. The project aims to develop and implement a whole-school program for well-being in digital education, assessing its potential to become mainstream and scaled up through mixed methods research. The partnership will develop the PERMA-Digital framework, informed by Positive Psychology PERMA model, DigComp, LifeComp, and the SELFIE tool. The framework will focus on the purposeful integration of digital technologies to create positive learning experiences and the development of teachers’ and students’ competencies for digital well-being. Teacher training and family resources will be developed and implemented, with action plans tested via a quasi-experimental research design involving 20 schools in CY, GR, FI and IE for cross-analysis. Over 300 teachers, 1000 learners, and 300 family members will be reached. The results will inform evidence-based policies targeting school levels, initial teacher education, continuous professional development, and educational technology providers, for sustainable cross-sectoral actions. Scalability workshops, a final conference, dissemination campaigns and activities will reach more than 100.000 individuals across Europe. It is envisaged that the project will result in increased competencies and awareness, informed policy decision-making and strategic practice for a systemic whole-school approach to well-being in digital education.