Health and Education: Closing the Gap

22 November, 2020 —

Health and Education: Closing the Gap

Two case studied which aim to do just that

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by Bradford Research School
on the 22nd November 2020

Health and education are typically seen as two completely separate entities. But we know that education can learn lots from the health sector, and vice versa. One way is through the exploration of how health and education interact: What are the health barriers to education and what are the education barriers to health? In addition, there is expertise and practice that can help influence how the two interact.

Bradford is at the centre of so much groundbreaking research in health. The Born in Bradford project goes from strength to strength, collecting data from 13,500 families over the past 10 years, and a number of projects at the Centre for Applied Education Research (CAER) aim to bridge that health-education gap, whether it is to create a quicker pathway for autism diagnosis, or to increase the number of children who obtain and consistently wear glasses.

On Wednesday 25^th November, as part of our Idea to Implementation series of online events, with Bradford Birth-19 and Beckfoot Trust, we are delighted to have two examples where health and education meet. We have asked the experts from CAER to share how they have taken the process from idea to implementation in schools. You can get your free ticket here.

Our first example, is the Creating Active Schools framework. The framework acknowledges the complexity in any intervention in schools, and ‘emphasises the need for researchers to move beyond push approaches and co-develop interventions with multiple stakeholders within the school setting from conception’. (1) Not only does the framework address the challenges of embedding physical activity in schools, it addresses the challenges of implementing any approach in schools, and is an excellent example of the health and education sectors working hand in hand.

The principles of this intervention are a model for other interventions, and school leaders can learn a lot from the approach.

In our second case study, Lucy Eddy, PhD student at the School of Psychology, University of Leeds, will share the process of developing a school-based screening tool of fundamental movement skills. This has a number of perceived benefits:

It would encourage greater communication between families, schools and healthcare services, which has the potential to expedite access to treatment services and interventions. It could help address health and educational inequalities attributed to socioeconomic status (SES) given that research from a large longitudinal cohort study found that mothers from a lower SES are less likely to access primary care facilities. It follows that children from a lower SES are less likely be identified as needing extra support with FMS development under current service provision, and therefore less likely to be offered intervention (at least within the UK). Universal FMS screening in primary schools would provide a more equitable approach to identifying those children in greatest need of support. (2)

You can see a very brief summary of the process below:

Using Rasch analysis to develop a school based scr

We invite you to join us to hear their stories, to ask questions and consider the implications not just for the implementation of physical health interventions, but wider applications for implementation in your schools.

Get your ticket. Wednesday 25^th November 4−5.15.

(1) Daly-Smith, A., Quarmby, T., Archbold, V.S.J. et al. Using a multi-stakeholder experience-based design process to co-develop the Creating Active Schools Framework. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 17, 13 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966…

(2) Eddy LH, Bingham DD, Crossley KL, Shahid NF, Ellingham-Khan M, Otteslev A, et al. (2020) The validity and reliability of observational assessment tools available to measure fundamental movement skills in school-age children: A systematic review. PLoS ONE 15(8): e0237919. https://doi.org/10.1371/journa…