Centre for Childhood Health is behind a major new survey designed to show how Danish primary schools are working with children’s well-being and health.
This is the first time schools’ many initiatives are being mapped in this way. The aim is to ensure that future initiatives support schools’ work and are meaningful for school staff.
The survey covers everything from screen use and physical activity to collaboration and organizational frameworks – and, importantly, how these initiatives are experienced in the busy everyday life of a school.
The questionnaire from Statistics Denmark is being sent out these days to a number of teachers, school leaders, and pedagogues via e-Boks.
A first comprehensive overview
Jonas Egebart, Chair of the Centre, explains why a thorough survey is so important:
"There are many opinions in the public debate about what primary schools should do to promote children’s health and well-being. But many schools already have a lot of initiatives underway, and now we want to investigate what schools and their staff are actually doing," he says, continuing:
"This survey will, for the first time, give us a comprehensive insight into how schools work with health and well-being promotion, what resources they have, and how others can contribute," says Jonas Egebart.
Survey to help set priorities
The survey can help prioritise initiatives where schools should be involved, and ensure they make sense in relation to schools’ other responsibilities, while supporting the initiatives already in place.
Teresa Holmberg, Head of Implementation and Partnerships, says:
"There may be many professionals in primary schools who want to work more on health and well-being but lack the capacity and frameworks to do so. That’s valuable knowledge for an organisation like ours," she says.
Focus on primary schools
With the Well-being Commission, an upcoming public health law, and planned experiments with school meals in the national budget, there are already many actors focusing on primary schools as a key arena for improving health and well-being in Denmark.
This is no coincidence, says Teresa Holmberg:
"Primary schools are important because children from all backgrounds meet here. If we want to reduce social inequalities in health, schools are a key place to act," she explains.
The survey covers approximately 27,000 school leaders and staff.
