Factors affecting educational achievement in Wales
- All Wales/National
The wider determinants of health, such as our money and resources, our level of education and skills, access to fair work, the quality and security of our housing and our surroundings, are the building blocks to health and well-being. Research has shown that healthcare services only account for a relatively small proportion of preventable deaths and that health-related behaviours are shaped by social factors.
Educational attainment and the related broader concept of educational achievement, is thought to exert its effects on health through three main pathways i) work and income potential, ii) health literacy and health-related behaviours and iii) psycho social factors. In turn children’s health affects their attainment (reverse causality).
As part of a programme of work which aimed to identify where Public Health Wales can add value and maximise impact in relation to reducing the educational attainment socio-economic disadvantage gap, a systems mapping exercise was undertaking with stakeholders in education and health. For the purposes of the mapping activity, it was decided to keep the system of interest wide with a focus on factors influencing educational achievement rather than the narrower outcome of educational attainment or more specifically the educational attainment gap.
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