ABSTRACT
The newness of wellbeing to curricula is likely to create a tension between teachers seeking greater pedagogical guidance on wellbeing, while national curriculum organisations expect teachers to take on greater responsibility for wellbeing more immediately (Porciani, 2013). Similarly, Dewhirst et al. (2014) have raised concerns about how educational policies often insufficiently support wider public health priorities. The challenges exist elsewhere in Europe where a wide range of policy initiatives have been introduced to improve HWB and tackle related inequalities. For example, The European Child and Adolescent Health Strategy (2015–2020) have a vision for the European region which requires greater investment in children and young people. A key aim is for children and adolescents to ‘develop the confidence and skills to make informed choices and decisions, and develop positive relationships’ (WHO, 2014, p. 10). The strategy advises that their guiding principles will help lay good foundations in the drive to improve child wellbeing. These are: adopting a life-course approach, adopting an evidence-informed approach, promoting strong partnerships and intersectoral collaboration and adopting a rights-based approach (WHO, 2014, p. 4). Young et al. (2014) conclude that the evidence for the effectiveness of health promotion in schools is clearly established and requires a strong commitment to teacher training and to health and education sectors working in partnership to ‘build trust and capacity’ (p. 140).
