Enhancing children’s ability to make positive health and wellbeing choices is what most schools in Scotland aspire to do.
Can a framework that provides an approach to planning, tracking, monitoring and evaluating health and wellbeing provide the support such an aspiration needs? This was the question the evaluation by the Network for Social and Educational Equity at the University of Glasgow set out to answer.
Our team has spent some years evaluating NHS Lanarkshire’s Healthy Schools Framework, which aims to do precisely as stated above. It attempts to address the determinants of unhealthy behaviours and enhance the children’s ability to make positive choices. The preventative and holistic health and wellbeing approach within the school and community centres on the child.
Covering learners from nursery to the end of high school
Designed by teachers from North and South Lanarkshire in collaboration with local NHS and health & social care staff, the framework covers learners from nursery through to the final year of high school and aligns with the Curriculum for Excellence experiences and outcomes.
The framework suggests teachers adopt a three-year programme of work and supports them doing so. It covers topics such as
- food and health
- physical education
- physical activity and sport (PEPAS)
- healthy lifestyles (mental, social, emotional and physical wellbeing)
- planning for choices and changes; relationships, sexual health and parenthood
- substance misuse.
Our evaluation found that teachers viewed the Healthy Schools framework as providing a systematic and holistic framework and guide for health and wellbeing in the curriculum. Teachers reported that they used the Healthy Schools framework as their school’s health and wellbeing pathway. They found it easy to adapt the framework to reflect the needs of the school.
Materials enhancing practice
Teachers appreciated the flexibility the framework provided and felt it gave them space to add and amend elements where needed. They frequently noted that the materials enhanced the quality of their practice and avoided them having to rely on generic worksheets. The Healthy Schools materials were not only seen as fit for purpose and directly useful in the classroom, but also facilitated self-development learning approaches.
Overall, the Healthy Schools resource was praised for providing a flexible and systematic planning framework for health and wellbeing teaching in schools. The scope and relevance were frequently highlighted.
You look at what it’s like to be safe from a food and health point of view, from a physical education, activity and sports perspective, and what it’s like to be safe from a healthy lifestyles point of view. That would be a lot of thinking to do without that framework. It gives you the breadth as well as the depth of learning across the three years.
Primary school teacher
Flexible and adaptable
The flexible and adaptable nature of the Healthy Schools Framework also meant that teachers were able to focus on local issues in their communities, such as substance misuse. Teachers commented that Healthy Schools enabled a substantive and systematic plan for the way health and wellbeing was taught throughout their school.
Primary teachers have a massive range of areas to teach, and health and wellbeing is a massive, massive area. I think before we had this in place, particularly with the kids in primary seven, there was potentially gaps in their learning with the health and wellbeing curriculum… I think having something like this in place, you were ensuring that the full health and wellbeing curriculum was being covered.
Primary teachers have a massive range of areas to teach, and health and wellbeing is a massive, massive area. I think before we had this in place, particularly with the kids in primary seven, there was potentially gaps in their learning with the health and wellbeing curriculum… I think having something like this in place, you were ensuring that the full health and wellbeing curriculum was being covered.
Primary school headteacher
Our evaluation found that Healthy Schools typically:
- enhances the teaching of health and wellbeing by being flexible and relevant to the curriculum and children and young people’s needs
- is adopted because it has demonstrated it is a credible and relevant resource that can be quickly taken up and adapted by teachers to suit context and fit with curriculum plans
- is used enthusiastically to support teaching of health and wellbeing, but not always at whole school level.
Some teachers advocate greater use of Healthy Schools across their school and in early years settings. Where Healthy Schools is being used at whole school level, this was seen as allowing teachers to effectively monitor pupils’ progress in relevant health and wellbeing learning outcomes from year to year.
This continuity of approach has enabled teachers to systematically support progress in learning and teaching.
The Healthy Schools website and resources can be accessed at: www.healthyschools.scot
Health education framework
Jonathan Cavana, service manager healthy lifestyle and weight management service, NHS Lanarkshire, commented: “The website is available to support children and their families to look after and improve their health and wellbeing by providing a health education framework which can be used by early years’ practitioners and teachers throughout the full academic year, every year from nursery to S6.
“The idea behind it isn’t about getting teachers to do anything extra, but to be a vehicle of choice for all child health and wellbeing information. This structured framework contains all the learning & teaching resources and materials needed to support the delivery of health & wellbeing in a way that’s flexible and helps education staff to plan and deliver individualised health and wellbeing education which compliments existing teaching resources.
“Healthy Schools is part of a suite of interventions our team has developed in Lanarkshire with tailored health and wellbeing support for adults, families, children and young people, which we continue to roll out, with support from our local partners, in Lanarkshire.”
Dr Elinor Steel, Healthy Schools manager, NHS Lanarkshire, added: “We know that it’s listening to the learners to find out what they have experienced or what they can tell us that gives the quality of anything in education. We are trying to impact on the adults of today to help the children of now.
“We’re thrilled to launch the newly added Senior Phase on the website. This section covers leaving home, using the NHS, volunteering and relationships and lets young people explore these topics in a safe environment that is led by them.”
