This document outlines People for Education’s goal and plan for defining a framework to measure equitable access to education in Canada. This work is ongoing.

The review of evidence covers mental health, aggressive behaviour, healthy eating, physical activity, substance use and misuse, driver education, and peer approaches. The report shows that effectiveness of different types of programmes varies. School-based programmes that promote mental health, healthy eating and physical activity are amongst the most effective, while programmes on preventing substance use, and suicide are among the least effective of school health promotion programmes.

This paper reviewed 12 studies to find effective interventions of the WHO Health Promoting Schools Framework for students aged 11-18 years. Additional research is required to determine best practices for partnerships within the framework.

This paper outlines the Core and Essential Conditions required to successfully implement CSH. The purpose of this research was to identify the essential conditions of CSH implementation utilizing secondary analysis of qualitative interview data, incorporating a multitude of stakeholder perspectives.

This article provides a review of CSH and discusses its four essential elements:

1. Teaching and learning

2. Social and physical environments

3. Healthy school policy

4. Partnerships and services

It also provides a common understanding of the implementation and broader benefits of CSH, which, in addition to health, include student learning and self-esteem. The article further discusses some complexities of a rigorous evaluation of CSH, which comprises proof of implementation, impact and positive outcome. Rigorous evaluation is urgently needed to provide a stronger evidence base of the benefits of CSH for learning, self-esteem and disease prevention.

This paper looked at the positive ways that CSH influences students’ lives in home environments. Researchers interviewed grade 5 and 6 students and highlighted the important role that student leadership plays in success.

The purpose of this research was to examine the role of the principal in the implementation of a CSH project aimed at creating a healthy school culture. This research provides recommendations to help establish effective leadership practices in schools, conducive to creating a healthy school culture.

This paper examined a number of studies that look at the benefits of later school start times on adolescence (13-19 years old). It concluded that more research is needed, but later start times may lead to positive benefits for students.

During this video, you’ll get to know veteran Ophea Healthy Schools Certification teacher Andrea Haefele and get real answers about how schools just like yours are navigating the program!

OPHEA’s Healthy Schools Certification (HS Certification) is a 6-step program that guides and celebrates schools for taking a Comprehensive School Health Approach. After years of running solely in Ontario, Ever Active Schools, DASH, PHE Canada and OPHEA took this program on the road (albeit a bumpy road) to engage schools across other provinces. Find out more about our successes, challenges and key learnings (there were plenty!) of coordinating a cross-Canada pilot of HS Certification.

Meet the the Canadian Healthy Schools Alliance and discover how they are supporting you, your district and your students! The Alliance is a national network of like-minded organizations aiming to create system-level change to better support school communities.

This infographic gives educators, policy makers and school leaders a clear way to communicate the role of schools in supporting student wellbeing and how it links to overall success and achievement.

This webinar speaks to the latest evidence on the value and importance of focusing on social and emotional wellbeing in schools. It shares tools and strategies for communicating this information to your school community.

View the slides from the webinar on Communicating the importance of social and emotional wellbeing in schools.

A summary from a user-centred design process with the guiding question “how might we co-create a set of insights and ideas that will inform the design of quality, free PHE resources that meet teachers’ diverse needs?”

Why and how K-12 system leaders must move beyond one-off interventions, programs, and professional development towards an approach where mental health and wellbeing is integrated in the core mandate of public education.

This blog post discusses a key challenge in schools: that mental health and wellbeing is too often approached as a ‘program’ to be implemented in the school setting rather than as a way of being, a cultural shift.

In Advancing Wellbeing in Schools, WellAhead shares 15 lessons about education, philanthropy and systems change learned through a 2015 experiment in ways to better integrate wellbeing into K-12 education.

In Advancing Wellbeing in Schools, WellAhead shares 15 lessons about education, philanthropy and systems change learned through a 2015 experiment in ways to better integrate wellbeing into K-12 education.

Drawing on academic and professional wisdom, this webinar explores how to engage with educators in change processes, including the importance of educator autonomy and the role of peers.