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08 SES 10 A: Priorities and Trends in Health and Wellbeing Education Research
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08. Health and Wellbeing Education
Paper 15 Years of European Health and Wellbeing Education Research: Exploring European Conference of Educational Research Abstracts though Topic Modelling 1: Aarhus University, Denmark; 2: Monash University, Australia; 3: University of Eastern Finland; 4: UNESCO Chair Global Health & Education Presenting Author:The occasion of the 15th anniversary of research network 8 (nw8) of Health and Wellbeing Education at the European Educational Research Association (EERA) raises the question of which topics characterizes this field of education within the embedded space of EERA. Network 8 was established in 2010 and has been functioning as a research network at EERA from 2011 and onwards, first titled Research on Health Education, and from 2019 Health and Wellbeing Education, the change in the title argued as a result of the growing numbers of papers addressing topics such as school wellbeing, mental health and psychological wellbeing. This paper draws on topic modelling analysis of abstracts submitted to nw8 at the European Conference of Education Research (ECER) in the period of 2011-2024, and the results are discussed in light of previous research on health and wellbeing education as well as current debates on issues within the broader field of education research. This includes research related to the scholarship and collaborations in publications authored by nw8 members (Simovska & McNamara 2015; Leahy & Simovska 2017; Leahy & Simovska 2018; Dadaczynski, Carlsson & Gu 2022; McLellan, Faucher & Simovska 2022; Ruge, Torres & Powell 2022; Carlsson, Torres & Mickelsson 2024; Sandmeier & O’Toole 2026; Faucher, Lahournat & Lopez-Cevallos, 2026). One issue concerning the broader field of education research within the EERA context has been raised in a paper by Deleye et al. (2025), discussing the most important research topics that have been addressed in EERA’s three decennia. Wellbeing and Mental-Health is together with a range of other topics described as a supertopic addressing societal challenges, and the authors find a stark growth of such topics in the EERA abstract corpus. At the same time, they note the decline of abstract topics focusing on teaching and learning, finding that the growing focus on societal challenges is having a strong impact on the content and type of educational research, fulfilling demands providing research that is directly useful to policy. An example of this is the growth in health and wellbeing education research drawing on wellbeing measurements, useful in relation to policies such as “OECD’s Wellbeing Framework” emphasising the need for such measurements, as well as research focusing on students developing healthy habits, useful in relation to policies such as “OECD’s Future of Education and Skills 2030/2040” where the description of practical and physical skills is aimed at developing healthy habits. Such habits are thus seen as essential to well-being, which mirrors a general tendency in policy of taking an individualistic view of well-being. The topic modelling analysis of abstracts in nw8 ECER abstracts database offers a window to reflect upon patterns as well as emergences and potential issues in health and wellbeing education research within the European educational research field, hereunder the relation between policy and research. The aim of the paper is to provide a critical appreciation of research developments within the field of health and wellbeing education, exploring which abstract topics have evolved over time in nw8, which topics are increasingly being addressed, and which topics have gradually declined in interest over time. Based on the findings it will discuss what factors might have determined the rise (or decline) of health and wellbeing education research topics, what remains unrepresented and in which ways the analysis can inform future directions of health and wellbeing education research and support central stakeholders in the field. Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used Blei (2012) describes topic models as algorithms for discovering the main themes that pervade a large and otherwise unstructured collection of documents, and probabilistic topic models as algorithms for studying patterns in multiple texts, used with the aim to discover and annotate large archives of documents with thematic information. Topic modelling methodology is based on statistical mehods analyzing the words of the original texts to discover the themes that run through them, how those themes are connected to each other, and how they change over time. The analysis draws on the topic modelling application EduTopics: ECER 2025 (Christ et al. 2025). Each document in the ECER app is assigned a document-topic-probability γ: γ represents the probability from 0 to 1 for a document originating from a specific topic, and contribu-tions with a high γ-value for a single topic are more representative of the content of that topic, than contri-butions with lower γ-values (Christ et al. 2025). A value of 0.05 indicates that there is a probability of 5 % that abstracts are referring to a specific topic. Through the topic modelling approach, we are also able to determine which topics have evolved over time in the research field. The EduTopics app is used for the first part of the analysis of research topics in nw8 in the context of the broader landscape of educational re-search at ECER, containing abstracts from authors from the 33 research networks organized in EERA and all in all 35,172 abstracts. It allows for a distinction between substantive, theoretical and/or methodologi-cal topics, and the first part of our analysis will explore all three categories. Analyses drawing on the EduTopics application are bounded by the parameters set in the application, delimiting the analysis of ECER abstracts to 50 supertopics and 300 subtopics identified across the full corpus of 35,172 abstracts. As a result, topics not having a certain frequency in the full corpus of the ECER database are not included in the application, and topics specific for n8 might thus have been left out. To allow for an analysis of the specific dataset from nw8, which is not bounded by the parameters set up in the EduTopics app, the sec-ond part of the analysis is drawing on the Chat GPT5 application, allowing for a categorisation of nw8 spe-cific research topics. Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings The analysis of topic trends in nw8 indicates that among the five supertopics registered there is an increase in topics focusing on Socio-emotional behavior and relationship, Schools and the school system, and En-gagements with/Explorations of new fields, and a decrease of topics categorized as Theories, concepts and knowledge and Wellbeing and Mental-Health. The analysis shows that: 1) mental health promotion over the period of 2011-2024 is the most common topic in nw8 but also shows some fluctuation: while there in 2011 is a 10% probability of topics in abstracts in nw8 can be categorised as a mental health promotion topic, it is in 2024 only a 5% probability; 2) in 2011 - when nw8 was established – there is an increase in the full ECER abstract corpus of topics categorised as Wellbeing and Mental-Health supertopics: 3) the distribution of abstracts on supertopic Wellbeing and Mental-Health overall are placed in nw8 and in nw18 on Sport Pedagogy. The preliminary findings from the ChatGTP5 based analysis of abstract titles in nw8 indicate: 1) a growth in substansive research topics within three thematic categories: ’wellbeing, men-tal health, health promotion’, ‘psychiatric disorders, special needs and inequality’ and ‘health education, teaching and curriculum’; 2) a decline in topics within the following three themes: ‘conceptions, miscon-ceptions, discourses’, ‘participation, empowerment, autonomy’ and ‘implementation, improvement, evi-dence’. These findings indicate that nw8 research topics doesn’t follow the tendency of decline of abstract topics focusing on teaching and learning that was identified in Deleye et al’s analysis of the full corpus of research topics in EERA abstracts. References Blei DM (2012). Probabilistic topic models. Communications of the ACM, 55(4): 77–84. Carlsson, M., Torres, I., Mickelsson, M. (2024). Guest editorial: Social justice, equity and agency: global challenges linking health, well-being and sustainability education. Health Education 30, 124 (3-4): 137–141. https://doi.org/10.1108/HE-07-2024-152 Christ, A., Röschlein, J., & Schindler, C. (2025). EduTopics: ECER 2025. https://dipflis.shinyapps.io/EduTopicsECER Dadaczynski, K., Carlsson, M., & Gu, Q. (2022). Guest editorial: Leadership in school health promotion. The multiple perspectives of a neglected research area. Health Education, 122(3), 261-266. https://doi.org/10.1108/HE-04-2022-138 Deleye, M., Carmona, C., Ciolan, L., Dovigo, F., Figueiredo, M., Grell, P. Schindler, C., Hoveid, MH. (2025). Mapping European Educational Research: Insights from topic modelling of ECER abstracts. Eu-ropean educational research journal EERJ, 2025-09, Vol.24 (5), p.614-638. Faucher, C. Lahournat & Lopez-Cevallos, (2026). Guest Editorial: Health Education in the Context of Global Environmental Vulnerability: Bridging Disciplines and Sectors Towards Sustainable Strategies. Health Education xxx Leahy, D., & Simovska, V. (2017). Guest editorial: Critical perspectives on health and wellbeing education in schools. Health Education, 117(5), 430-433. https://doi.org/10.1108/HE-06-2017-0034 Leahy, D., Simovska, V. (2018). Guest Editorial: School health education and promotion: current ap-proaches and critical perspectives: part 2. Health Education, 2018-02, Vol.118 (2), p.114-116. McLellan, R., Faucher, C. & Simovska, V. (2022). Wellbeing and Schooling: Cross Cultural and Cross Disciplinary Perspectives. McLellan, R., Faucher, C. & Simovska, V. (eds.), Springer. OECD (n.d.) OECD’s Wellbeing Framework. https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/sub-issues/measuring-well-being-and-progress.html (Accessed 15. December 2025). OECD (n.d.), Future of Education and Skills 2030/2040, https://www.oecd.org/en/about/projects/future-of-education-and-skills-2030 (Accessed 15. December 2025). Ruge, D., Torres, I., Powell, D. (2022). School Food, Equity and Social Justice: Critical Reflections and Perspectives. Ruge, D., Torres, I., Powell, D. (eds.), Critical Studies in Health and Education series, Routledge Sandmeier, A. & O’Toole, C. (2026). Guest editorial: Advancing Equity, Voice, and Sustainability in School Wellbeing. Health Education xxx Simovska, V. & McNamara, P. M. (2015). Schools for health and sustainability: theory, research and practice (s. 191-209). Simovska, V. & McNamara, P. M. (eds.), Springer Science+Business Me-dia. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9171-7_9 08. Health and Wellbeing Education
Paper Empowering Students About SDGs in Europe: Psychological and Contextual Dimensions Associated with Teachers' Use of Storytelling 1: Department of Psychology, Health & Sustainability Lab, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy; 2: Institute of Child Health, Department of Social and Developmental Pediatrics, 115-27 Athens, Greece; 3: Haute Ecole de Namur-Liège-Luxembourg (HENALLUX), 4141 Louveigné, Belgium; 4: Fortælletid, 1719 København V, Denmark Presenting Author:Schools are increasingly expected to support students’ well-being as an integral part of their educational mission. The Health Promoting Schools (HPS) approach frames this work as a whole-school endeavour, requiring alignment across curriculum, teacher professional development, school governance, supportive environments and community partnerships (World Health Organization, 1984; IUHPE, 2021). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a coherent lens for connecting learning with health promotion priorities. Yet, moving from frameworks and ambitions to day-to-day practice depends on how teachers enact them. Active, student-centered methodologies have emerged as essential tools for translating this principles into practice (UNESCO, 2017). Storytelling is one such pedagogy, with potential to combine cognitive and emotional engagement and to nurture more inclusive classroom climates (Dunn & Cherup, 2023). However, while the benefit for stundets are well documented, less is know about the psychological and contextual facilitators or barriers for teachers. This study aims to explore teachers' perception of storytelling and to identify the organizational and individual factors associated with teachers’ use of storytelling. Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used This study draws on the Erasmus+ project PLACES (“Playful LeArning and Storytelling that Create Engagement for the SDGs”). We analysed responses from 138 primary and lower-secondary teachers in Italy, Belgium and Greece. Measures captured attitudes toward storytelling, self-efficacy in using storytelling, perceived time-related and didactic barriers, perceived organisational climate for innovation, and use of storytelling. Analyses included Welch’s t-tests, hierarchical regression and moderation models. Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings Results showed that primary teachers reported more frequent storytelling (primary school = 37,3%; middle school = 22,2% more than once a month or every week), higher self-efficacy, and more positive attitudes, alongside lower didactic barriers than lower-secondary teachers. In hierarchical models, self-efficacy emerged as the strongest positive correlate of storytelling use (β = 0.65, p < 0.01), while didactic barriers showed a significant negative association (β = −0.60, p < 0.01); time barriers were not significant. A moderation analysis indicated that the organisational climate for innovation strengthened the association between self-efficacy and storytelling use (β = 0.44, p = 0.018), suggesting that personal agency translates into practice more effectively when teachers perceive their school environment as supportive of innovation. References Dunn, T. M., & Cherup, S. (2023). Storytelling and success: How storytelling can be used to promote diversity, cross-cultural understanding, and confidence in the classroom. Journal of Education, 203(3), 690–699. International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE). (2021). Strategic plan 2021–2026: Advancing health promotion for sustainable development. UNESCO. (2017). Education for sustainable development goals: Learning objectives. UNESCO. World Health Organization. (1984). Health promotion: A discussion document on the concept and principles: Summary report of the Working Group on Concept and Principles of Health Promotion. WHO Regional Office for Europe. 08. Health and Wellbeing Education
Paper Healthy Schools, Healthier Aging: A 3-Year Longitudinal Multicase Study Applying the Whole-School Approach University of Minho, Portugal Presenting Author:Healthy schools play a critical role in shaping healthier aging by integrating health, well-being, and learning through whole-school approaches (Vilaça et al., 2025). Health Promoting Schools (HPS) are increasingly positioned at the intersection of educational quality, public health, and long-term societal sustainability. Within educational research, the HPS approach can be understood as a whole-school, systems-oriented framework that conceptualises schools as learning organisations capable of shaping not only academic outcomes but also life-course trajectories of health, well-being, and social participation (WHO & UNESCO, 2021a; Dadaczynski et al., 2020). This perspective is particularly relevant in the context of population ageing, as European policy frameworks increasingly emphasise that active and healthy ageing is strongly influenced by conditions and competencies developed early in life (European Commission, 2021). The theoretical framework underpinning this study draws on three complementary strands of literature. First, the whole-school approach conceptualises health promotion as an organisational process rather than a set of discrete interventions (Vilaça et al., 2019). Health is embedded across school culture, leadership, curriculum, professional practices, and partnerships with families and communities (Suwankhong & Liamputtong, 2025; Vilaça et al., 2019). From this standpoint, schools function as complex social systems in which structural conditions, professional learning, and participatory practices interact to support sustainable change (Driessen-Willems, 2023; Elsayed, 2025). Second, the study is informed by life-course and health literacy perspectives, which emphasise that childhood and adolescence are critical periods for developing cognitive, social, and emotional competencies that underpin health, agency, and participation across adulthood and older age (Sawyer et al., 2012; Rueskov, 2025). Health literacy, action competence, and relational skills cultivated in school settings are increasingly recognised as foundational resources for active ageing, influencing individuals’ capacity to manage health, engage socially, and adapt to changing life circumstances over time (Hansen et al. (Eds.), 2025). Third, the framework integrates an educational professionalism lens, highlighting the role of teachers and school staff as key agents in mediating policy, practice, and student experience (Vilaça et al., 2025). Research shows that sustained professional development, collaborative learning, and reflective practice are central to effective implementation of whole-school approaches and to the institutionalisation of health promotion within schools (Dinnen et al., 2024; Schiff et al., 2023). In this sense, HPS contribute not only to student outcomes but also to healthier working environments and professional well-being, reinforcing schools’ capacity to act as sustainable organisations. Conceptualised as learning organisations, HPS aim to embed health promotion across school culture, leadership, curriculum, professional practice, and community partnerships rather than through isolated interventions (Suwankhong & Liamputtong, 2025; Driessen-Willems, 2023). Furthermore, although life-course and health literacy research highlights childhood and adolescence as critical periods for developing competencies that influence well-being, participation, and active ageing in later life (Sawyer et al., 2012; Rueskov, 2025; European Commission, 2021). This contribution of school-based health promotion to active and healthy ageing is rarely explored within educational research designs. There is therefore a need for longitudinal, context-sensitive educational research. Based in this background, this research examines how the systematic application of whole-school approaches within HPS contributes to organisational change, pedagogical practices, and the development of student competencies associated with healthier futures and active ageing. Therefore the main research aims are: 1. To examine how HPS principles and SHE tools are interpreted and operationalised by multidisciplinary school teams over time; 2. To identify changes in school organisation, health education practices, and professional collaboration associated with the implementation of the whole-school approach; 3. To explore teachers’ and school staff’s perceptions of the contribution of health promotion practices to students’ long-term competencies linked to active ageing (e.g., health literacy, agency, participation); 4. To analyse enabling factors and barriers influencing the sustainability of whole-school health promotion processes. Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used This research was developed within the scope of a partnership representing the Schools for Health in Europe Network created to carry out the three-year School for Health in Europe for Active and Healthy Aging Project (SHE4AHA), an ERASMUS+ Project, involving Denmark, France, Iceland, Portugal and Slovenia. Four Portuguese school contexts (two rural, one urban, and one semi-urban) participated, involving multidisciplinary school health teams: the rural school cluster A includes 700 students aged 6-14 years old (1st to 9th grades) and about 300 children from 3 to 5 years old; the rural preparatory school B, has around 440 students from the 5th to 9th grades, however only one class participated in the project; the urban preparatory school C has around 700 students from the 5th to the 9th grade and the semi-urban preparatory and secondary school D has about 700 students from the 5th to the 12th grade. The SHE4AHA project started with a b-learning in-service teacher training course (25 hours) which included the SHE material, concepts and values. SHE has a set of materials that policy makers, school board and teachers can use to make each school a Health Promoting School. These SHE material includes the SHE School Manual 2.0 (Vilaça et al., 2019), the SHE Rapid Assessment Tool (Safarjan et.al., 2013), which is an assessment of the current situation and priorities of schools regarding health promotion and education, a set of European Standards and Indicators for Health Promoting Schools version 2.0 (Darlington et al., 2021) and a pixie version of the SHE School Manual 2.0 co-created by the SHE4AHA team. The second part of the in-service teacher training course was school context-based (25 hours), where an interdisciplinary team design, implemented and co-assessed a health and well-being co-created project. Data were generated at three time points through focus groups (n=15), document analysis produced by the participants during the SHE4AHA project, and collaborative logbooks, enabling an in-depth exploration of organisational learning processes and perceived outcomes. Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings The findings indicate that engagement with the HPS framework supported schools in progressively aligning health promotion with educational priorities, citizenship education, and community engagement. Over the three-year period, schools reported strengthened attention to mental health, relational school climates, physical education, nutrition education, sexuality nad gender education and student participation, alongside increased coherence between curricular and extracurricular activities. These developments were understood by participants as contributing to students’ long-term capacities for agency, collaboration, and well-being—key dimensions associated with active and healthy ageing. At the organisational level, schools highlighted improved professional collaboration and shared responsibility for health, although challenges related to time constraints and competing curricular demands persisted. By foregrounding a life-course perspective, this study argues that the contribution of Health Promoting Schools to active ageing lies not in direct outcomes in later life, but in the cumulative development of competencies, relationships, and institutional practices established during compulsory education. The paper contributes to European debates by demonstrating how longitudinal, context-sensitive research can show evidences regarding the educational mechanisms through which whole-school approaches support healthier futures across generations. References Dinnen, H. L., Litvitskiy, N. S., & Flaspohler, P. D. (2024). Effective teacher professional development for school-based mental health promotion: A review of the literature. Behavioral Sciences, 14(9), 780. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14090780 Dadaczynski, K., Jensen, B.B., Viig, N.G., Sormunen, M., von Seelen, J., Kuchma, V., & Vilaça, T. (2020). Health, well-being and education: Building a sustainable future. The Moscow statement on Health Promoting Schools. Health Education, 120(1), 11-19. https://doi.org/10.1108/HE-12-2019-0058 Darlington, E., Bada, E., Masson, J., & Santos, R. (2021). European Standards and Indicators for Health Promoting Schools version 2.0. Schools for Health in Europe Network Foundation (SHE) Ed.. Sawyer, S.M., Afifi, R.A., Bearinger, L.H., Blakemore, S-J, Dick, B., Ezeh, A.C., et al. (2012). Adolescence: a foundation for future health. Lancet, 379(9826), 1630–40. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60072-5. Epub 2012 Apr 25. Driessen-Willems, M. (2023). Exploring the implementation dynamics of the Health Promoting School approach in Europe: a qualitative study among school health representatives. Health Education, 123 (1): 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1108/HE-12-2021-0149 Elsayed, H. (2025). School health promotion: a professional practice in an institutional context. Health Education, 125 (1): 108–125. https://doi.org/10.1108/HE-04-2024-0057 European Commission. (2021). Green Paper on Ageing: Fostering solidarity and responsibility between generations. Publications Office of the European Union. COM (2021) 50, January 27, 2021 https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/2d800530-4408-4291-a229-ebd08729d561_en?filename=1_en_act_part1_v8.pdf Hansen H., Schulz, A., Guðmundsdóttir, I., Karlsdóttir, S., Pucelj, V., Đukić, B., Vilaça, T., Carvalho, G.S., Darlington, E., Masson, J., Carrouel, F., Darlington-Bernard, A. (Eds.) (2025). Escola Promotora de Saúde: Catálogo de Boas Práticas (trad. T. Vilaça). Centro de Investigação em Estudos da Criança-Instituto de Educação-Universidade do Minho. Vilaça, T., Carvalho, G. S. de, Schulz, S., Hansen, H., Guðmundsdóttir, I., Karlsdóttir, S., Pucelj, V., Đukić, B., Darlington, E., Carrouel, F., & Darlington-Bernard, A. (2025). School Health in Europe for Active and Healthy Ageing (SHE4AHA): Policy and Implementation Recommendations. Universidade do Minho, Centro de Investigação em Estudos da Criança – Portugal. https://hdl.handle.net/1822/95358 Rueskov, V. (2025). Health literacy among socioeconomically disadvantaged adolescents: A systematic review of school-based interventions. International Journal of School & Health Promotion, 30, 73–92. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-025-00273-3 Schiff, M., Jha, A., Walker, D., & Gonzalez-Pier, E. (2023). Collectively achieving primary health care and educational goals through school-based platforms: financing solutions for intersectoral collaboration. Front. Public Health 11:1241594. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1241594 Suwankhong, D., & Liamputtong, P. (2025). Health promoting schools framework: Strategies for promoting the health of schoolchildren. In P. Liamputtong (Ed.), Handbook of concepts in health, health behavior and environmental health (pp. 1–22). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-0821-5_55-2 | ||