Wellbeing for all: how a Scottish secondary school conceptualises health and wellbeing support for socioeconomically disadvantaged students

Abstract

The Scottish national education policy, Curriculum for Excellence, designates health and wellbeing (HWB) as a core learning area and advocates for an integrated, ‘joined up’ approach to wellbeing promotion involving all aspects of school life (e.g., the curriculum, school ethos, organisational structure, physical environment, and relationships within and outwith the school). While policy documentation provides a framework for schools to develop wellbeing strategies and practices, this can be challenging because schools must adapt policy guidance for their own local context. Furthermore, some research suggests that school context and composition could have a detrimental effect on the wellbeing of socioeconomically disadvantaged pupils when they attend more mixed or affluent schools where they are in the minority. However, little is known about how staff in schools serving primarily affluent populations understand, interpret, and implement policy guidance to support wellbeing when they have a minority intake of lower socioeconomic status (SES) pupils.

This thesis aimed to understand the key factors which influenced how teachers and senior leaders from a school serving predominantly affluent pupils conceptualised their HWB practices, especially for those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. To do so, a Scottish secondary school was purposefully selected on the basis of demonstrating multiple good practice examples of whole school HWB support. A strengths-based qualitative case study methodology using school policy documents, semi-structured individual interviews, and dyadic interviews was adopted to provide an in-depth, situated account of the school context and practices. This positive case study approach explored how participants’ contextual and personal factors may influence their beliefs and reflections when considering wellbeing and enable their practices to support HWB. Thematic analysis of the data identified four interconnected factors which impacted and facilitated the educators’ practices: the ethos/culture of the school, an emphasis on relationships, the importance of leadership, and the impact of identity. These influencing factors suggest the educators share a holistic understanding of HWB and have adopted a multifactorial, whole school approach to supporting wellbeing. However, within this broad approach, understanding the specific needs of lower SES pupils was challenging for the school due to concerns about the risk of stigmatisation. The findings suggest that schools may need extra support and training to assess the needs of lower SES pupils and evaluate the effectiveness of HWB initiatives, especially those targeted for socioeconomically disadvantaged pupils.

This thesis provides new insight into how a secondary school serving primarily affluent pupils plans and negotiates whole school HWB initiatives when they have a minority of pupils from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. It also identifies individual and contextual factors highlighted by participants as contributing to successful whole school HWB promotion, which may be useful for future research, policy, and practice.