Query: wellbeing and  school environment

title: Wellbeing and relationships between people, space, place and time: Canterbury primary school principals' perceptions of wellbeing in the context of their school environment
abstract: 3

title: House of Commons Library: Debate pack: Number CDP 2016/0257, 5 January 2017: Supporting children's wellbeing and mental health in a school environment
abstract: The rising mental health needs of children and young people in England Approximately 200,000 young people aged 10 17 are referred to specialist mental health services each year in England suggesting a high level of need. The latest data shows that increasing numbers of young people are turning to self harm with hospital admissions over the last five years rising by almost 93% among girls and 45% among boys. There are also more young people considering suicide and an increasing number of young people treated for eating disorders. The Children's Society's latest Good Childhood Report found that 1 in 7 girls aged 10 15 are unhappy with their lives as a whole up from 11% over a five year period.

title: Supporting the mental wellbeing of children and young people in the school environment: a qualitative study
abstract: One in ten children and young people have a clinically diagnosed mental health disorder or emotional and behavioural problems. Children and young people with poor mental health are at increased risk of short term and long term poor social and economic outcomes. Improving the wellbeing of children is one of the key goals of the Well being of Future Generations Act in Wales. The aim of this study was to understand children's views about what is important to mental wellbeing in the school setting.  Between Nov 29, 2017, and May 28, 2018, six focus groups, which included 62 pupils (33 girls and 29 boys) aged 5 18 years, were invited to discuss what matters to children to support their mental wellbeing. Five of the focus groups were held at schools identified by the Healthy Schools Coordinators across Wales, and one was held at the Children in Wales office for children who were excluded or not in mainstream schools. The schools were located in a mixture of urban and rural settings in south Wales. We did a thematic analysis of all the qualitative data gathered from the focus groups.  Thematic analysis identified fourteen themes: understanding the mental wellbeing needs of children who attend each school; fostering good working relationships with clear respect between pupils and staff; being able to raise issues without fear of judgement; dealing quickly and effectively with bullying; having enough free time in school for unstructured activities and lunch; feeling prepared for tests and exams; having a strong and effective pupil voice; staff enabling a calm classroom environment; prioritising pupil well being; prioritising staff well being; monitoring the reasons for staff turnover and acting on this; using support services to best effect to benefit well being; celebrating diversity; and helping pupils cope at predictable transition periods. The most frequently raised themes were fostering good working relationships with clear respect between pupils and staff; having a strong and effective pupil voice; prioritising staff wellbeing; monitoring the reasons for staff turnover and acting on this; celebrating diversity; and helping pupils cope at predictable transition periods.  The themes identified by the children were used as a basis for the new Wales Healthy School Scheme criteria. The outcomes of the thematic analysis directly influenced the criteria associated with mental wellbeing, giving children a clear voice in the process.

title: Abstract P056: Adolescent Self Reported School Environment and Obesity Prevalence, the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study

title: School Spaces for Student Wellbeing and Learning: Insights From Research and Practice
abstract: This book introduces a new wellbeing dimension to the theory and practice of learning space design for early childhood and school contexts. It highlights vital, yet generally overlooked relationships between the learning environment and student learning and wellbeing, and reveals the potential of participatory, values based design approaches to create learning spaces that respond to contemporary learners' needs. Focusing on three main themes it explores conceptual understandings of learning spaces and wellbeing; students' lived experience and needs of learning spaces; and the development of a new theory and its practical application to the design of learning spaces that enhance student wellbeing. It examines these complex and interwoven topics through various theoretical lenses and provides an extensive, current literature review that connects learning environment design and learner wellbeing in a wide range of educational settings from early years to secondary school. Offering transferable approaches and a new theoretical model of wellbeing as flourishing to support the design of innovative learning environments, this book is of interest to researchers, tertiary educators and students in the education and design fields, as well as school administrators and facility managers, teachers, architects and designers.

title: The School Environment as a Source of Somatic Problems in Adolescents
abstract: Somatic symptoms are a prevalent health problem in children and adolescents. The specific cause often remains unidentified in paediatrics and cases are therefore frequently assigned to psychological aetiology. The most common cause of somatic symptoms is stress which can arise from a variety of areas of adolescent life. One significant factor affecting the mental health and wellbeing of youth is their school environment. The link between somatic symptoms and school has thus far been studied mainly from the perspective of the impact of health problems on academic performance, attendance or relationships with schoolmates. However, we can assume that the school environment and its characteristics can equally be a source of stress for adolescents and thereby also the reason for the occurrence of somatic issues. The main aim of this study is to investigate the presence of somatic symptoms in adolescents and above all, to determine if they can be caused by factors such as attachment to school, school climate, feeling of safety at school, teacher support, and self academic motivation. To examine the factors of the school environment and the presence of individual somatic symptoms, we used the scales of the Social and Health Assessment (SAHA) questionnaire. Amongst the 1,961 adolescents observed, the most frequent somatic symptom was unspecified aches or pains (65.4% followed by headaches (59.3% and rashes/other skin problems (46.8% Linear regression analysis showed that all examined factors of the school environment significantly lead to the occurrence of somatic symptoms.

title: Organizational justice at school and its associations with pupils' psychosocial school environment, health, and wellbeing.
abstract: It has been shown that the psychosocial environment perceived by school staff is associated with children's academic performance and wellbeing. In this study we examined the associations between organizational justice (procedural and relational justice) as reported by school staff and pupils' perceptions of their school environment, health problems, academic performance, and absenteeism. We combined data from two surveys: for the staff (the Finnish Public Sector Study, n 1946) and pupils (the Finnish school health promotion survey, n 11,781 boys and 12,842 girls) of 136 secondary schools, collected during 2004 2005. Multilevel cumulative logistic regression analyses showed that after adjustment for potential individual and school level confounding factors, low procedural justice was associated with pupils' dissatisfaction with school going. Low relational justice was associated with a 1.30 times higher risk of poor academic performance, 1.15 times higher risk of psychosomatic symptoms and 1.13 times higher risk of depressive symptoms among pupils. Both organizational justice components were associated with truancy. We concluded that staff perceptions of organizational justice at school are associated with pupils' reports of their psychosocial school environment, health, performance, and absenteeism due to truancy. Improving managerial and decision making procedures among school personnel may be an important factor for protecting pupils' academic performance and wellbeing.

title: EFFECT OF SCHOOL PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT ON PSYCHOSOCIAL WELLBEING BETWEEN PUPILS IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN KIAMBU COUNTY, KENYA
abstract: The study examined and compared the effect of school physical environment on psychosocial wellbeing between pupils in public and private primary schools. The target population was 260,459 comprising of head teachers, teachers and pupils in Kiambu County in Kenya. CausalComparative research design was employed. A sample size of 384 participants was drawn from the population using stratified, simple random and purposive sampling procedures. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0 was used to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics were used to establish differences between public and private schools in terms of availability of adequate and quality physical facilities and the resultant psychosocial wellbeing of pupils. The findings of the study revealed that there was a significant difference between private and public primary schools in terms of physical environment. Public schools had better school physical environment than private schools that positively impacted on psychosocial wellbeing of pupils. It was recommended that the Ministry of Education, parents and proprietors of primary schools need to invest in quality physical facilities for both public and private schools. This would foster appropriate socialization of pupils and create conducive emotional environment for psychosocial wellbeing of the pupils.

title: Associations between Socio Economic Status (Including School and Pupil Level Interactions) and Student Perceptions of School Environment and Health in English Secondary Schools.
abstract: This article examines interactions between school level and pupil level measures of socio economic status for pupil reports of the school environment and a range of risk behaviours and health outcomes. The baseline survey for the INCLUSIVE trial provided data on pupil affluence and pupil reports of the school environment, smoking, drinking, anti social behaviour at school, quality of life and psychological wellbeing for over 6,000 pupils (aged 11 12 years) in 40 schools within a 1 hour train journey from central London. The level of socio economic disadvantage of the school was measured using the percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals. Multilevel regression models examined the association between pupil affluence, the socio economic composition of the school and the interaction between these with the school environment, risk behaviours and health outcomes. Our findings provide some evidence for interactions, suggesting that less affluent pupils reported lower psychological wellbeing and quality of life in schools with more socio economically advantaged intakes. There appears to be a complex relationship for anti social behaviour. Where pupil affluence and school socio economic composition were discordant, pupils reported a higher number of anti social behaviours. This article provides further evidence that less affluent pupils are more likely to engage in a variety of risk behaviours and experience worse health outcomes when they attend schools with more socio economically advantaged intakes, supporting some of the mechanisms described in the theory of human functioning and school organisation.

title: Associations between socioeconomic status (including school and pupil level interactions) and student perceptions of school environment and health in English secondary schools
abstract: This paper examines interactions between school level and pupil level measures of socio economic status for pupil reports of the school environment and a range of risk behaviours and health outcomes. The baseline survey for the INCLUSIVE trial provided data on pupil affluence and pupil reports of the school environment, smoking, drinking, anti social behaviour at school, quality of life and psychological wellbeing for over 6000 pupils (age 11/12 years) in 40 schools within a one hour train journey from central London. The level of socio economic disadvantage of the school was measured using the percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals. Multilevel regression models examined the association between pupil affluence, the socioeconomic composition of the school, and the interaction between these with the school environment, risk behaviours and health outcomes. Our findings provide some evidence for interactions, suggesting that less affluent pupils reported lower psychological wellbeing and quality of life in schools with more socio economically advantaged intakes. There appears to be a complex relationship for anti social behaviour. Where pupil affluence and school socio economic composition were discordant, pupils reported a higher number of anti social behaviours. This paper provides further evidence that less affluent pupils are more likely to engage in a variety of risk behaviours and experience worse health outcomes when they attend schools with more socio economically advantaged intakes, supporting some of the mechanisms described in the theory of human functioning and school organisation.