Health and wellbeing and wider achievement: An analysis of teachers’ practices and learners’ experiences in Scottish secondary schools

Abstract

There is a heightened policy expectation in Scotland that a greater curriculum emphasis on health and wellbeing (HWB) will positively contribute to learners’ reflections on their wider achievements. However, in terms of policy enactment, relatively little is known on the interrelationship between HWB and learners’ wider achievements. To address this limitation, data was gathered from four secondary schools in East central Scotland via an online survey, eight learner group interviews and eight teacher interviews. Findings indicated that learners’ grasp of how HWB connects with their broader achievements was generally vague and imprecise. Despite many areas of positive self-reporting learners’ progress was hampered by their lack of confidence in speaking in front of others and modest sense of school belonging. In addition, the practice gains anticipated through making HWB a more central feature of all learners’ broad general education were constrained by teachers’ variable level of engagement with their new roles and responsibilities, and by logistical problems in recording learners’ achievements. Further research which collects more extensive data on the weaknesses identified and on understanding learners’ HWB experiences better would contribute to a more insightful analysis of how schools enact policy and record achievement.