Background The overall aim of this report is to highlight the need for knowledge to promote health and development among school-age children in the Nordic countries. Learning in school and for life is a key element for future well-being and quality of life. What happens in our schools is therefore crucially important. The health of school-age children is an important part of educational activities in Nordic schools. It concerns one of the largest parts of the Nordic labour market where teachers, other school staff, and children spend many formative hours and years together. A comprehensive systematic review on school, learning, and mental health was done ten years ago by a multidisciplinary group of researchers and was conducted on the initiative of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. 1 The review concluded that the study of school, learning, and health is a field of research that is multidisciplinary and not clearly defined. The first step was to conduct a mapping of research on the relationship between schooling and mental health. A second step was an in-depth synthesis of relevant research and focusing on answering the following questions: Which are the causal relationships between mental health and academic achievement? How are these relationships influenced by other factors, both related to the individuals and their social background, and to factors in the educational environment (evaluation system, tests, grades, selection procedures, special educational system, teaching methods, and social climate)? The third step was to review research which has investigated experiences and perceptions of Swedish children and adolescents concerning their mental health and well-being. It was considered important to listen to the voices of children and youths regarding their own perspectives and perceptions about their health and wellbeing. Another reason for the third step was to investigate if conclusions from the in-depth review are applicable to the Swedish context. From the mapping of the literature it was concluded that there seems to be enough literature for the review at the individual level of educational factors, i.e., the students’ academic and social 1
Gustafsson, J.-E., Allodi, M. Westling, Alin Åkerman, B., Eriksson, C., Eriksson, L., Fischbein, S., Granlund, M., Gustafsson, P. Ljungdahl, S., Ogden, T., & Persson, R. S. (2010). School, learning and mental health: A systematic review. Stockholm: Health Committee, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
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