This project explores the link between mental health and academic achievement and the role of schools therein. The project is innovative because it bridges the traditional gap between learning and health within schools. Four inter-related studies explore different aspects of the school context and their links with mental health and educational achievement. Twelve lower secondary schools (grades 8-10; 13-15-year-olds) have been recruited to the study from Hedmark (4), Oppland (1) and Hordaland (7).
Study 1 explores the connection between young people's mental health, physical activity and academic achievement, examining how they are affected by individual, family and the school level factors. Young people in grade 8 in each school will be surveyed using an online questionnaire to collect data on their views about school, their relationships with family, friends and teachers, what they do in leisure time, and their mental health. Physical activity will be objectively measured using accelerometers. The survey and accelerometer study will be repeated on the same young people when they are in grade 9 and grade 10. Data collection has taken place during September-December 2016, 2017 and 2018. The young people’s January grades each year have been integrated into the study in order to explore how academic achievement might be related to physical activity, mental health and other school- and individual-level factors. How outcomes and relationships change over time are also being explored.
Study 2 focuses specifically on how Physical Education (PE: curriculum subject) and Physical Activity (PA: extracurricular) practices shape young people's mental health. During 2017, young people in grade 10 (15-16-year-olds) were recruited from a selection of eight of the twelve schools. Overall, 31 focus groups involving 148 young people (68 girls and 80 boys) were carried out to explore their lives in general as well as their experiences of physical education and within school. Analysis has focused on understanding how young people negotiate the duality of sporting cultures and wider youth cultures as well as how practices associated with PE are experienced.
Study 3 focuses on how schools respond to young people experiencing mental health issues and support their learning. During 2016, Study 3 recruited teachers and head teachers from a selection of the twelve schools. A range of qualitative approaches (observation, interviews, focus groups) were used to understand how schools in general and teachers and head teachers in particular respond to young people who struggle with mental health issues through their everyday practice. Through in-depth interviews and observation, the study has also explored how professionals in extended services work with schools in supporting pupils’ mental health. Seven focus groups with young people in grade 9 from a selection of schools have also been carried out to provide their perspectives on teachers’ support for their mental health.
Study 4 has been developed to focus on bringing the research close to every day practice in schools through a process of dialogue. A website has been developed (www.swellforskning.no – school wellbeing research) in order to raise the profile of the project and act as a tool for disseminating the research widely. The website has a Norwegian and English version in order to maximize its reach to those who are interested in the project. Feedback to schools on key findings from the research project started in September 2018 and is ongoing.
The study continues to reflect on the implications of the research for education policy and practice, including that relating to the education of relevant professionals and has the potential to inform the development of evidence-based policy and practice. Articles are being submitted to academic journals as well as to professional journals, such as Bedre Skole.
