Health and well-being area of learning and experience in the Curriculum for Wales: a qualitative study (summary)

This report is part of the formative evaluation of the Curriculum for Wales.

It presents the findings of a qualitative study focused on the Health and Well-being Area of Learning and Experience (Area), led by Cardiff Metropolitan University.

The research aimed to provide answers to 2 main research questions:

• How is Curriculum for Wales guidance in relation to the Health and Well-being Area being implemented in practice?
• How are settings and practitioners supported to enact the Health and Well-being Area as part of the Curriculum for Wales?

The methodology included:

• recruitment of 8 schools (4 primary schools and 4 secondary schools)
• development of research questions and discussion guides informed by workshop with Welsh Government policy officials and by a desk-based literature review
• 14 semi-structured discussions with senior leaders, Health and Well-being Area leads, practitioners and support staff; these discussions were carried out online via Microsoft Teams and lasted on average 60 to90 minutes
• thematic analysis of discussion transcripts

The report highlights a number of limitations associated with this qualitative study, notably:

• the small and self-selecting nature of the sample, meaning that findings are not generalisable
• the fact that findings were based on evidence collected at a single point in time, limiting opportunities to explore schools’ progress over time
• limited time available during discussions to be able to explore all aspects of schools’ planning and implementation
• the research did not include the voices of children and young people and therefore did not explore how this Area of the curriculum is being experienced by learners

Research question 1: how is Curriculum for Wales guidance in relation to the Health and Well-being Area being implemented in practice?

Opportunities

All of the schools involved in this study welcomed the opportunities provided through the Curriculum for Wales framework to develop a Health and Well-being curriculum that responded specifically to their context and to their learners’ needs. All schools noted that health and well-being was a priority within their school development plan and was central to their vision for the curriculum.

The introduction of this Area had enabled many schools to build on previous work to support learners’ health and well-being, organising provision around the statements of what matters in the Curriculum for Wales Framework. 

Discussions revealed that all schools were developing a holistic approach to supporting health and well-being, incorporating physical health and development, mental health and emotional and social well-being. In all primary schools, Health and Well-being was typically integrated into the wider curriculum and embedded as part of topics, as opposed to being taught as a standalone Area. Senior leaders and practitioners from all of the secondary schools referred to designing an integrated Health and Well-being curriculum, promoting the interconnections between different aspects of the Area.

Schools reported that developing their Health and Well-being curriculum had begun to have an impact on teaching and learning and on the wider school environment. It had enhanced the status of this Area and, in some cases, resulted in an increase in the amount of time allocated to health and well-being. Schools reported more evidence-informed approaches to health and well-being provision: half of the schools in the sample reported using their School Health Research Network (SHRN) data to inform curriculum planning in order to ensure that learners’ needs were reflected in teaching and learning. 

Senior leaders frequently expressed the view that the introduction of this Area was having a positive impact on learners’ understanding of their own health and well-being, on learners’ ability to articulate problems when they arose, and learners’ knowledge of how and where to access support. 

The introduction of this Area of the curriculum had provided additional professional development opportunities for practitioners and leaders in some schools, including opportunities to attend courses and networks, and to take on additional leadership roles in relation to health and well-being.

Some primary and secondary schools noted that their work to design the Health and Well-being Area complemented their efforts to develop strong community connections and relationships as part of work related to the Community Focused Schools initiative.

Design and structure

All schools in the sample reported that the process of designing the Health and Well-being Area had involved reviewing and auditing previous provision. The statements of what matters were used extensively by schools to support curriculum design, although some schools reported that they would have benefitted from more initial guidance on approaches to planning this Area. 

Senior leaders frequently noted that they were focused on ensuring that the Health and Well-being Area was designed to meet the needs of all learners, including learners with additional learning needs (ALN) and learners requiring differentiated support. Schools welcomed the flexibility that Curriculum for Wales had provided to enable them to take a tailored approach to respond to their learners’ needs and context. Common factors cited by senior leaders and practitioners who felt their school was making progress in responding to learners’ needs through their design of the Health and Well-being Area were: 

• providing a mix of learning experiences in a supportive and stimulating environment, including the use of outdoor areas
• the need for teachers and support staff with the skills and experience to be able to design and enact a tailored curriculum that supports learner well-being
• the importance of establishing in-school review and evaluation processes to support continuous improvements in curriculum design and enactment 

All schools reported drawing on the views of learners to inform curriculum design in this Area; schools reported that this helped ensure that teaching and learning in this Area was relevant and supported learner engagement. 

An inconsistent picture emerged from discussions with schools about cluster working. Most primary schools in the sample reported that, where joint working did take place, this happened between different primary schools and usually did not include secondary schools. Conversely, each of the secondary schools indicated that some discussion and cluster work had taken place with primary schools in their cluster. Some schools noted that the main barriers to cluster working in this Area were that curriculum planning processes and timetables were not fully aligned; some secondary schools also referred to the challenges associated with coordinating joint-working across large numbers of feeder primary schools. 

Leadership of the Health and Well-being curriculum Area was unique to each school. In spite of differences in leadership structures, there was widespread acknowledgement across the sample of the need for a collective approach to supporting this Area of the curriculum, with distributed leadership encouraged.

In all the schools, senior leaders stated that they had attempted to design the Health and Well-being Area to align with their whole school approach to emotional and mental well-being (WSA). Many of the practices described by senior leaders and practitioners throughout the research highlighted the alignment of the design, learning and teaching in the Health and Well-being Area and delivery of their whole school approach to emotional and mental well-being. Schools reported that a member of the senior leadership team (SLT) led the whole school approach to emotional and mental well-being and that this was typically also the person with oversight of the Health and Well-being Area.

Pedagogies to support teaching and progression

All senior leaders described developing high-quality learning and teaching in the Health and Well-being Area as a priority. Schools adopted a range of pedagogical approaches, with some reporting that the 12 pedagogical principles were a strong feature of these approaches.

Most schools sought to integrate the different statements of what matters for this Area, reflecting a holistic approach to Health and Well-being proposed in the guidance, and undertaking planning to demonstrate the connections between different aspects of the Health and Well-being Area. 

Most primary and secondary schools used relational pedagogies, for example, restorative practice, as one way of addressing the ‘healthy relationships’ statement of what matters. Most primary schools also used trauma-informed approaches, reflecting the alignment between the Health and Well-being Area and the whole school approach to emotional and mental well-being, which promotes learners being taught by trained and trauma-informed teachers.

Most schools noted that they had not accessed external professional learning related to pedagogies for Health and Well-being, relying instead on in-school support. Costs and perceived disruption to learners were cited as some of the reasons for this. 

All schools reported that they were using progression steps to inform assessment of learners’ progress in the Area. Some were mapping progression across clusters between primary and secondary although this was reported to be at an early stage of development, and many participants highlighted that there was no national shared understanding of assessment of learner progress in this Area.

All schools used learner-centred approaches to assess progression in Health and Well-being. Learners were encouraged to play an active role in assessing their progress in all primary and secondary schools. Primary schools included their learners in progress reviews, with learners documenting and sharing their progress with parents or carers and each other, while secondary schools built in time with tutors, practitioners and peers for learners to reflect on progress and linking this to their well-being. 

Some schools had engaged in evidence-informed approaches to progression. In particular, primary schools frequently reported using the Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) intervention to understand and support the emotional and social development and needs of learners.

Almost all secondary and primary schools reported on the complex nature of the social, emotional and mental well-being domains and the difficulties they faced in ‘measuring’ these in a traditional sense.

Some secondary schools noted that they faced additional challenges due to the fact that GCSE specifications had not been published before they had designed the Year 7 to 9 curriculum, leading them to having to rethink approaches to teaching and learning at a later date.

Challenges faced in the Health and Well-being Area

Senior leaders and practitioners in all schools spoke of the challenge of finding time to plan for the Area and to participate and provide health and well-being activities, provide activities to successfully enact the Area, noting the importance of protected time during the school timetable to achieve this.

Some senior leaders and practitioners noted challenges in relation to the impact of poverty and the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on learners’ health and well-being and how, in many cases, learners needed to be nurtured before they were ready to learn. 

A few senior leaders and practitioners referred to low levels of confidence amongst some teaching staff about their role in the planning and delivery of the inclusion of the Health and Well-being Area, particularly in a context of demanding teacher workloads. 

Senior leaders from most schools noted challenges associated with budget constraints and the rise in the costs of activities, for example travelling off-site for sport, venue hire, purchasing high-quality resources and inviting external agencies to the school.

Research question 2: how are settings and practitioners supported to enact the Health and Well-being Area as part of the Curriculum for Wales?

All primary and secondary schools reported being reliant on their staff’s own professional knowledge and experience in planning and enacting the Health and Well-being curriculum. 

However, all schools had also drawn on a wide range of sources to support curriculum enactment in this Area. This included Curriculum for Wales guidance, engagement with communities of practice, cluster working and other collaborative work, such as local authority-led working groups. Schools referred to other support, including commercial programmes, public bodies, university data sources and networks and family and community partners.

Some senior leaders and practitioners would welcome additional professional learning on assessment and progression, including approaches to understanding and monitoring learner development in relation to their emotional well-being. They also reported that they would value opportunities to share and learn from effective or innovative practice through other schools’ approaches to this Area. 

Most primary schools would welcome professional learning on the physical aspect of the Health and Well-being Area and 2schools would welcome advice on how to integrate this curriculum Area with Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE). 

Senior leaders and practitioners identified where they would welcome additional professional learning to address gaps in knowledge and skills in particular in assessment and progression; opportunities to learn from good practice; and opportunities and guidance to support, planning across clusters.

There were only 2 Welsh medium secondary schools in the sample but both noted a lack of Welsh language teaching resources, which they reported had a negative impact on staff time and the quality of resources they could offer learners.

The research identified a clear need in this Area for schools to be assisted in developing confident practice to measure learner progress. As planning for progression and assessment was reported to be at an early stage of development by several schools, consideration should be given to providing additional support for schools to develop effective assessment practices in the Health and Well-being Area. 

Consideration should be given to how more effective planning and co-ordination could be facilitated in the Health and Well-being Area between secondary schools and their feeder primaries. Further consideration should also be given to how to improve collaboration within clusters to ensure effective transition and progression of learners from Year 6 to Year 7, with a focus on supporting continuity in relation to health and well-being. 

The study heard examples of senior leaders and practitioners who had benefitted from their involvement in communities of practice and other collaborative activity that had led to the sharing of effective practice and expertise, and increased practitioner confidence. Welsh Government and partners across the wider system could explore ways of facilitating further opportunities for schools to take part in joint working to support design and enactment of the Health and Well-being Area.

Consideration should be given to the provision of additional professional learning opportunities that are specific to the Health and Well-being Area. The research identified that it would be beneficial if these opportunities included the following areas: assessment and progression; the physical domain of health and well-being (particularly for primary schools); accessing effective and innovative practice developed by other schools; planning and collaboration within clusters; and alignment between health and well-being and RSE.

Report authors: Dr Anna Bryant, Professor David Egan, Dr Mirain Rhys and Alexis Bennett (Cardiff Metropolitan University); Brett Duggan and Dr Felicity Morris (Arad Research)

Views expressed in this report are those of the researchers and not necessarily those of the Welsh Government.

For further information please contact:

Curriculum Research Branch
Social Research and Information Division
Welsh Government
Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NQ

Email: curriculum.research@gov.wales

Social research number: 71/2025
Digital ISBN: 978-1-80633-111-6