Animated situational judgement to assess students’ learning about wellbeing - Volume 18 - Issue 1

Oct 15, 2026

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Although wellbeing education is widely emphasized in schools, classroom-based assessment resources for students’ curricular knowledge about wellbeing remain limited. This paper presents the systematic development and validation of the Wellbeing Situational Judgement Test (WB-SJT), an animated scenario-based assessment aligned with Ireland’s lower secondary SPHE curriculum. Validation data (n=316) show acceptable psychometric properties, strong face validity, and positive links to connectedness, happiness, and psychosocial functioning, supporting both formative and summative use.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages22

Reading Time55 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Wellbeing as curriculum vs. wellbeing as method

Assessment within wellbeing education

Volume 18, Number 1, April 2026 pp 3-24 [www.um.edu.mt/ijee](www.um.edu.mt/ijee) Animated situational judgement to assess students’ learning about wellbeing 1 Darina Scully , Nisha Crosbie, Deirdre O’Brien and Michael O’Leary Centre for Assessment Research, Policy and Practice in Education, Institute of Education, Dublin City University, Ireland Although wellbeing and social and emotional education are key components of many school curricula worldwide, there is a lack of resources to support classroom-based assessment of students’ curricular knowledge about wellbeing. This paper outlines the systematic development and validation of the Wellbeing Situational Judgement Test (WB-SJT), an animated, scenario-based assessment of students’ learning about wellbeing in the context of the Irish lower secondary Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) curriculum. Validation data (n = 316) demonstrate acceptable psychometric properties, high face validity, and positive criterion-related associations with students’ levels of connectedness, happiness and overall psychosocial function. The potential of the WBSJT for both formative and summative assessment purposes is discussed, along with broader implications for schools’ wellbeing education. Keywords: wellbeing education, situational judgement test, classroom assessment, social and emotional education, social and emotional learning First submission 11th September 2025; Accepted for publication 28th April 2026. Introduction Wellbeing has received increasing emphasis in schools in recent years (Leahy & Simovska, 2017), although how this has manifested itself has evolved over time. As Svane et al. (2019) outlined, early wellbeing education programmes adopted a health promotion approach informed by the field of medicine, whilst social and emotional learning approaches became more dominant thereafter, reflecting the influences of psychology, counselling and social work. Emphasis on optimal human functioning or ‘flourishing’ as opposed to the absence of pathology, is now common in wellbeing education (Bourke et al., 2025, Norrish et al., 2013) . 1 Corresponding author. Email address: [darina.scully@dcu.ie](darina.scully@dcu.ie)[ ](darina.scully@dcu.ie)[https://doi.org/10.82599/hpjryt41](https://doi.org/10.82599/hpjryt41) ISSN 2073 7629 © 2026 CRES Volume 18, Number 1, April 2026 pp 3 A shift has also occurred in terms of the purpose of wellbeing education. Previously, policymakers and programme developers made reference to the established links between wellbeing and educational outcomes (e.g., Miller et al., 2013) to justify wellbeing promotion in schools – a reflection of the ‘emotional intelligence’ movement (Coleman, 2009). More recently, however, rights-based approaches have been gaining more salience in wellbeing education. Such approaches recognise the development of one’s full potential as a fundamental right of the child, as well as the responsibilities of structures that serve children and young people, situating wellbeing as “a goal which is worthy apart from any implications for academic achievement”(Kempf, 2018, p.6) . As children have the right to participate in matters that affect them, it also implies that more emphasis should be placed on involving young people in the processes of defining, understanding and promoting wellbeing in schools (Ben-Arieh, 2010, Powell et al., 2018) . Wellbeing as curriculum vs. wellbeing as method A recurrent distinction is made between wellbeing as curriculum and wellbeing as method (Kempf, 2018) . The former situates wellbeing as a subject that is taught and learned, akin to academic subjects, whilst the latter is concerned with the integration of wellbeing promotion in school culture. This dual model is often reflected in wellbeing education frameworks. For example, the guidelines for Junior Cycle (lower secondary) wellbeing education in Ireland distinguish between students “learning about wellbeing through sp

FAQs

What problem does the paper address regarding wellbeing education assessment?

The paper highlights a shortage of resources for classroom-based assessment of students’ curricular knowledge about wellbeing.

What is the Wellbeing Situational Judgement Test (WB-SJT)?

WB-SJT is an animated, scenario-based assessment designed to measure students’ learning about wellbeing within the Irish lower secondary SPHE curriculum.

How were the test results validated and what did the data show?

Validation using data from n=316 demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties, high face validity, and positive criterion-related associations with students’ connectedness, happiness, and overall psychosocial function.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Liam