Search

Background: Health and education are intrinsically linked, while both are significantly patterned by socioeconomic status throughout the life course. Nevertheless, the impact of promoting health via schools on education is seen by some as a "zero-sum game"; ie, focusing resources on health improvement activity distracts schools from their core business of educating pupils, potentially compromising educational attainment. There is emerging evidence that school health improvement interventions may beneficially influence both health and attainment. However, few studies have examined the relationship between school health improvement activity and socioeconomic inequalities in educational attainment. Methods: Wales-wide, school-level survey data on school health policies and practices was linked with routinely collected data on academic attainment. Primary outcomes included attendance and academic attainment at age 14 (Key Stage 3) and 16 (Key Stage 4). Linear regression models were constructed separately for high and low Free School Meal (FSM) schools, adjusting for confounders. Interaction terms were fitted to test whether there was an interaction between FSM, health improvement activity, and outcomes. Results: There were positive associations between almost all school health variables and KS3 attainment among high, but not low FSM schools. Similarly, for attendance, there were positive associations of several health variables among high but not low FSM schools. There were no associations for KS4 attainment. Conclusions: Our findings did not support the "zero-sum game" hypothesis; in fact, among more deprived schools there was a tendency for better attendance and attainment at age 14 in schools with more embedded health improvement action.

Objective: School summer holiday clubs in deprived areas of Wales were evaluated to examine opportunities for healthy eating and physical activity and explore delivery processes. Methods: Ten Food and Fun clubs participated in 2016. Quantitative data (child and parent surveys; N = 196, N = 84) assessed the opportunity to provide children with breakfast and lunch. A sub-sample of children wore an accelerometer (N = 41) to evaluate the opportunity for achieving 1-hour of moderate to vigorous activity (MVPA) at club. Features of successful club delivery were identified through; focus groups (child and parent; N = 74, N = 69) and interviews (staff/volunteer; N = 32). Results: Opportunities for healthy eating were delivered with high fidelity: 86% of children reported breakfast consumption and 75% eating a healthy lunch. On club days, children reported consuming fewer sugary snacks (66%), fewer sugary drinks (81%), and more fruits and vegetables (67%). About 71% of children achieved the recommended MVPA at club, with children engaging in more MVPA (+17 minutes/day, p < 0.01) on average compared to non-club days. Successful delivery processes were: use of school facilities and staff; flexible partnership-working; and whole family involvement. Conclusions: Schools appear to provide a suitable setting for the delivery of healthy eating and physical activity opportunities during school summer holidays.

Background: Implementing health improvement is often perceived as diverting resource away from schools' core business, reflecting an assumption of a "zero-sum game" between health and education. There is some evidence that health behaviors may affect young people's educational outcomes. However, associations between implementation of school health improvement and educational outcomes remains underinvestigated. Methods: The study linked school-level data on free school meal (FSM) entitlement, educational outcomes, and school attendance, obtained from government websites, with data from the School Environment Questionnaire (SEQ) on health improvement activity collected in Wales (2015/2016). Spearman's rank correlation coefficients and linear regression models tested the extent of association between health improvement activity and attendance and educational outcomes. Results: SEQ data were provided by 100/115 network schools (87%), of whom data on educational performance were obtained from 97. The percentage of pupils entitled to FSM predicted most of the between-school variance in achievement and attendance. Linear regression models demonstrated significant positive associations of all measures of health improvement activity with attainment at Key Stage (KS) 3, apart from mental health education in the curriculum and organizational commitment to health. Student and parent involvement in planning health activities were associated with improved school attendance. There were no significant associations between health improvement and KS4 attainment. Conclusion: Implementing health improvement activity does not have a detrimental effect on schools' educational performance. There is tentative evidence of the reverse, with better educational outcomes in schools with more extensive health improvement policies and practices. Further research should investigate processes by which this occurs and variations by socioeconomic status.

Conceptualizing the absence of adultism is an important step forward for young people, advocates and researchers. This paper shares a hypothetical future absent of discrimination against youth and bias towards adults. The author proposes that in the place of adultism is sustained democracy, freedom and justice for all, regardless of age and many other biases, as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces a special issue of Taboo: The Journal of Culture & Education on the topic of adultism. The issue includes fifteen articles by twenty-one authors from five countries, covering various disciplines such as psychology, education, and healthcare. The articles explore different aspects of adultism and its intersections with other forms of oppression. The authors propose frameworks, strategies, and interventions to address adultism and promote justice for children and youth. The collection highlights the need for further research and transdisciplinary approaches to tackle adultism effectively. [Extracted from the article]

Health inequalities emerge during childhood and youth, before widening in adulthood. Theorising, testing and interrupting the mechanisms through which inequalities are perpetuated and sustained is vital. Schools are viewed as settings through which inequality in young people's health may be addressed, but few studies examine the social processes via which institutional structures reproduce or mitigate health inequalities. Informed by Markham and Aveyard's theory of human functioning and school organisation, including their concept of institutional boundaries, critical theories of marketisation and the concept of micro-political practices within schools, this paper presents analysis of student survey data (N = 9055) from 82 secondary schools in Wales. It examines the role of socioeconomic composition, social relationships at school and institutional priorities in mitigating or perpetuating health inequality. It finds that affluent schools were most unequal in terms of student health behaviours and subjective wellbeing. In relation to health behaviours, students from affluent families accrue a disproportionate benefit. For wellbeing, students from poorer families reported lower subjective wellbeing where attending more affluent schools. Student--staff relationships appear to be a key mechanism underpinning these effects: poor relationships with staff were predicted by a pupil's position within schools' socioeconomic hierarchy and associated with worse health outcomes. That is, students from the poorest families reported better relationships with teachers where attending less affluent schools. Universal approaches engaging with these social processes are needed to reduce health inequalities.

Objectives: It has been suggested that students are healthier in schools where more students are committed to school. Previous research has examined this only using a proxy measure of value-added education (a measure of whether school-level attendance and attainment are higher than predicted by students' social profile), finding associations with smoking tobacco, use of alcohol and illicit drugs, and violence. These findings do not provide direct insights into the associations between school-level aggregate student commitment and health behaviours, and may simply reflect the proxy measure being residually confounded by unmeasured student characteristics. We examined the previously used proxy measure of value-added education, as well as direct measures at the level of the school and the student of lack of student commitment to school to see whether these were associated with students' self-reported smoking tobacco, alcohol use and school misbehaviour. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Setting: A total of 40 schools in south-east England. Methods: Multi-level analyses. Results: There were associations between school- and student-level measures of lack of commitment to school and tobacco smoking, alcohol use and school misbehaviour outcomes, but the proxy measure of school-level commitment, value-added education, was not associated with these outcomes. A sensitivity analysis focused only on violent aspects of school misbehaviour found a pattern of associations identical to that found for the measure of misbehaviour. Conclusion: Our study provides the first direct evidence in support of the Theory of Human Functioning and School Organisation.

Purpose: Evaluation of the Teens & Toddlers (T&T) positive youth development (PYD) and teenage pregnancy prevention programme suggested that the intervention had minimal effectiveness partly due to its unclear theory of change. The purpose of this paper is to examine the lived experiences of young women participating in the programme to contribute to a clearer understanding of intervention process and potential mechanisms. Design/Methodology/Approach: The authors conducted four focus groups (n = 20), eight paired or triad interviews (n = 12) and 15 interviews with young women participating in an randomized controlled trial of the T&T programme in England, analysing these data using a phenomenological approach. Findings: T&T provided some opportunities to experience the "five Cs" that underpin PYD programme theory: competence, confidence, connection, character and caring. However, the young women did not experience the programme in a way that would consistently develop these characteristics. The lack of opportunities for skill-building and challenge in the activities constrained their ability to build competence and confidence. Some programme facilitators and counsellors were able to achieve connections and caring relationships with the young women, though other adults involved in the programme were sometimes perceived by the participants as overly critical. The character development activities undertaken in the programme addressed attitudes towards sexual risk-taking. Originality/Value: Few studies of the PYD approach examine young people's perspectives. This research suggests that the young women were not consistently provided with opportunities to achieve youth development within the T&T programmes. In refining the programme, more thought is needed regarding how delivery of particular components may facilitate or impede a PYD experience.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the process of involving students and staff on school action groups, and staff and student experiences of reviewing local data and initiating school-level changes, to address bullying and other aggression. Design/methodology/approach: The authors draw on qualitative, process data collected at four purposively sampled pilot intervention schools in England via semi-structured interviews with school managers, action group members and facilitators (n = 33), focus groups with students (n = 16) and staff (n = 4), and observations. Findings: School staff used multiple methods to recruit a diverse range of students onto school action groups. Locally tailored data reports were an important catalyst for action groups to identify priorities and plan whole school change--both through the process of "validation" (whereby existing concerns were confirmed) and "discovery" (whereby new problems were identified). An unexpected benefit of providing schools with these data was that it triggered analyses of other data sources, including routine monitoring data. External facilitators were important in promoting student voice and ensuring the intervention retained integrity as a whole-school restorative approach. Practical implications: It was feasible to involve young people using action groups, and there was evidence of school-level actions led by students, including in disadvantaged school contexts. Future Health Promoting Schools interventions could incorporate this approach to support locally appropriate, school-level change. Originality/value: The micro-level processes that were observed, whereby action groups interrogated feedback reports and collected additional data, suggest the responsiveness of such youth-involvement interventions to local needs. Contrary to many public health interventions, implementation appeared to be "facilitated" rather than hindered by features of the secondary-school "market" whereby parents have some choice between schools.