Improving Childhood Wellbeing

A partnership to tackle the wider determinants of child health.

Background

Education plays a major role in influencing health and socio-economic status, but learning can often be disrupted by health barriers. Challenges presented by ill-health can influence a young person’s academic, psychological, and social experience of school. A whole system approach is needed to coordinate health and education (and other public services) support for children.

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Project Team

Image of Mark Mon-Williams

Prof. Mark Mon-Williams

MRG Lead
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Dr. Simon Pini

MRG Lead

Aims

Our vision is to improve the wellbeing and long term mental and physical health of children and young people. We will:

  • Investigate and develop policy to reduce the impact of health conditions on the school lives of young people.

  • Explore how schools can work in partnership with childhood professionals to improve outcomes for children and young people. For example, connecting education and health professionals to prevent, support and minimise the impact of illness (an approach identified as critically important by the Royal College of Child Health and Paediatrics).

  • Create a partnership between educational settings (schools, nurseries, early year providers), health professionals, researchers, and other relevant service providers to develop a system that can: 1) Use evidence-based approaches to support children and young people experiencing health barriers to education and daily activities. 2) Prevent health problems, improve education, and support social mobility.

Sub-projects

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