systems-wellbeing-impact-mapper

name	systems-wellbeing-impact-mapper
description	Map systemic forces shaping a wellbeing concern without individualising the problem. Uses Bronfenbrenner's ecological model and social determinants to generate structural interventions.
disable-model-invocation	false
user-invocable	true
effort	medium
skill_id	systems-wellbeing-impact-mapper
skill_name	Systems Wellbeing Impact Mapper
domain	systems-thinking
version	1.0
evidence_strength	emerging
evidence_sources	["Meadows (2008) — Thinking in Systems (systemic structure drives behaviour)","Bronfenbrenner (1979) — The Ecology of Human Development (nested systems affecting individual development)","Senge et al. (2025) — Systems sensing and embodied awareness (Centre for Systems Awareness)","World Health Organization (2014) — Social Determinants of Health framework","Roffey (2012) — Pupil wellbeing — teacher wellbeing: two sides of the same coin","Rose & Dolan (2012) — A whole-school approach to wellbeing"]
input_schema	{"required":[{"field":"wellbeing_pattern","type":"string","description":"The wellbeing concern or pattern to map. Example: students in Year 8 report declining motivation and social anxiety after primary school transition"}],"optional":[{"field":"context","type":"string","description":"School or community context"},{"field":"existing_responses","type":"string","description":"What has already been tried"},{"field":"scope","type":"string","description":"Whether analysis should focus on classroom, school, community, or all levels"}]}
output_schema	{"type":"object","fields":[{"field":"systems_map","type":"object","description":"Nested systems levels (classroom, school, family, community, societal) with forces at each level"},{"field":"reinforcing_loops","type":"array","description":"Self-sustaining feedback patterns that maintain the wellbeing concern"},{"field":"intervention_ideas","type":"array","description":"Structural interventions at multiple system levels"},{"field":"systemic_framing_check","type":"array","description":"Individual vs systemic reframings of common descriptions of the pattern"},{"field":"surveillance_warning","type":"string","description":"Reminder that mapping systemic forces is not the same as measuring individual students"}]}
chains_well_with	["systems-awareness-iceberg","agency-circles-for-systems-action","leverage-and-response-design","wellbeing-learning-connection-mapper"]
teacher_time	10-15 minutes
tags	["wellbeing","systems-thinking","bronfenbrenner","social-determinants","school-culture","structural-intervention","ecological-model"]

Systems Wellbeing Impact Mapper

What This Skill Does

Maps how systemic patterns — school culture, community dynamics, institutional structures, environmental conditions — shape the wellbeing of students and educators. The skill keeps analysis at the systems level rather than pathologising individuals. It is designed to help educators see wellbeing as produced by conditions, not just by individual choices or dispositions.

When a wellbeing concern emerges in a school or community, the instinct is often to ask: what is wrong with these students, this family, or this teacher? This skill redirects that question: what are the structures, policies, norms, and feedback loops that make this pattern predictable given these conditions? The output is a systemic map with structural intervention ideas — not a support programme designed around individual deficits.

Evidence strength is rated emerging because the component frameworks (Bronfenbrenner's ecological model, social determinants of health, Meadows' systems thinking) are well-established, but applying systems mapping specifically to school wellbeing patterns is a practitioner synthesis, not a directly evaluated methodology.

Evidence Foundation

Bronfenbrenner's ecological model situates child development within nested systems: immediate settings (classroom, family), institutional systems (school, community services), cultural and policy layers, and overarching values and norms. It provides the structural scaffold for this skill's nested analysis. The WHO Social Determinants of Health framework establishes that wellbeing outcomes are shaped by upstream structural factors — employment, housing, education, social exclusion — not only by individual behaviour or mental health. Meadows' systems thinking provides the feedback loop analysis: wellbeing patterns are often self-sustaining because the conditions that produce them are reinforced by the responses they generate. Roffey's work on pupil and teacher wellbeing as interconnected, and Rose and Dolan's whole-school framework, situate wellbeing as relational and institutional rather than purely individual.

Input Schema

Required:

• Wellbeing pattern: The wellbeing concern or pattern to map. Be specific and observational. Example: "Students in Year 8 report declining motivation and increasing social anxiety after transition from primary school" or "Year 4 teachers report high levels of stress and disengagement since the new assessment schedule was introduced."

Optional:

• Context: School or community context.
• Existing responses: What has already been tried — this prevents the output from recommending already-attempted approaches without modification.
• Scope: Whether to focus analysis at classroom, school, community, or all nested levels.