Education and Health

SECTOR SPOTLIGHT

The education sector encompasses formal educational institutions such as schools, colleges, and universities, along with teachers, students, and curriculum. Education has major implications for lifelong learning, a vital community condition. Lifelong Learning is about providing a good education for all that ensures all people, regardless of age, background, or ability, are set up for success, and have the opportunities to reach their full potential. Lifelong learning means launching people into meaningful careers, with ongoing opportunities to learn and grow. Education is an engine of social mobility with implications for health and well-being that extend across the life course and generations.

Evidence Base

Education Quality
Schools
Educational Achievement
Health Knowledge and Skills
Factors
Quality education, including the provision of safe and supporting learning environments, a comprehensive curriculum, effective teaching, and enrichening learning experiences inside and outside the classroom results in students gaining the knowledge and skills they need to lead a meaningful and successful life.
Schools can promote thriving, safety, and a sense of belonging among students, their families, and the school community by providing healthy school facilities, access to health-promoting resources such as recreation facilities, school-based health centers, and healthy and accessible school food programs.
Fostering educational achievement is associated with benefits across an individual’s lifetime, including higher incomes, better job opportunities, and access to vital community conditions.
Education equips individuals with knowledge and skills that promote informed decision-making about their health, and support healthy behaviors.
Outcomes
Improved learning outcomes and educational achievement
Education quality and access
Reduced child food insecurity
Improved nutrition and physical activity
Improved access to preventive health services
Upward social and economic mobility
Inreased access to resources for health and well-being
Increased positive health behaviors such as physical activity and safe sex
Decreased delterious health behaviors like smoking
Increased knowledge needed to navigate care settings

Featured Resources

Education Is a Strong Predictor of Health

This resource shows that education strongly influences health outcomes. It presents data indicating that higher education levels are associated with higher inco...

HIAs in Education

HIA is a tool for education, public health and allied stakeholders to improve the health and wellbeing of students, families, and communities.

HIAs in education have focused on school structure and funding, transportation to and from school, school buildings and grounds, in-school physical activity and nutrition, and school discipline and climate. They have been used to inform a range of decisions pertaining to education including:

  • Formation of a learning academy, content of after-school programming, requirements for grade retention, full-day kindergarten, school integration
  • Programs to promote walking and biking to school, a policy to provide free public transit passes to students
  • Building renovations, proposed locations for new school sites
  • Modifications to physical education curriculum or nutrition standards for snacks and beverages sold at school, development of shared use agreements
  • The adoption of disciplinary models within districts, standards to reduce bullying

EXAMPLE HIAS

Full-Day Kindergarten

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas completed an HIA to inform decisions by the Nevada State Legislature on proposed modifications to the availability of full-d...

Oakland Education to Employment Academy

Youth UpRising conducted an HIA to inform the Oakland school board’s planning and implementation of a secondary, specialized learning academy within a lo...

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