A tool designed to increase understanding of the connected factors affecting a child’s educational achievement and a review of the mechanisms by which this affects health have been developed by Public Health Wales. 

Good education and skills are a building block for health and well-being. However, not all children and young people have the same opportunities for learning and there is a gap in educational attainment between children from different socio-economic backgrounds. 

To understand this further, the Wider Determinants of Health Unit at Public Health Wales explored what affects educational achievement in Wales and the ways in which education affects health. This work demonstrates the close relationship between health and education, and that reducing the socio-economic gap in attainment in Wales cannot be done by schools alone. 

Involving subject experts and diverse partners, the team has mapped the factors that affect educational achievement. This map describes how a child’s mental well-being, engagement with the school and home learning environment contribute to educational achievement. These are in turn influenced by a wide range of family, home and social factors, including some which start before a child is born.   

Not only does health affect education, but research demonstrates how education affects health in later life, through three main pathways. These are good employment and income, social and psychological factors, and health knowledge and behaviours. However, although educational achievement can be an important driver of opportunity, it can also contribute to increased health inequalities by perpetuating cycles of intergenerational inequality.  

Further information