Whole school approach to emotional and mental wellbeing: unmet evidence needs

A broad range of robust information has been collected to evaluate how the Framework is being delivered and what difference it is making. Much of this has been collected as a one-off activity and there is a need for regular information from all groups within the school community to support ongoing evaluation, particularly from school staff and parents / carers.

To improve evaluation of the Framework, there is a need for more information on:

• involvement, engagement and communication with the whole school community
• school staff well-being
• training and support needs of school staff
• school culture and environment
• school prioritisation and resourcing to support delivery
• school partnerships with support services
• alignment of delivery with education and health strategies
• delivery across all education settings

There is a lack of regular, representative information from school staff and parents. Ways to address this have been highlighted. It is particularly important to gather data from school staff as understanding their experiences and support need is crucial to delivering the Framework.

Further data sources and opportunities to help address these unmet evidence needs have been highlighted. This includes the School Health Research Network (SHRN) which is an important source of robust, regular health and wellbeing data via its learner and school-level surveys.

Further opportunities include standardising and collecting insights from practitioners working with schools to support delivery of the Framework, as well as local-level data from schools, local authorities, and the middle tier (e.g., school improvement bodies, Estyn, Education Workforce Council). There are also opportunities to use national-level data collected by the Welsh Government to help track broad differences the Framework has made.