Education Endowment Foundation:Healthy Minds

Healthy Minds

Bounce Forward and LSE
Implementation costThe cost estimates in the Toolkits are based on the average cost of delivering the intervention.
Evidence strengthThis rating provides an overall estimate of the robustness of the evidence, to help support professional decision-making in schools.
Impact (months)The impact measure shows the number of additional months of progress made, on average, by children and young people who received the intervention, compared to similar children and young people who did not.
0
months
Project info

Independent Evaluator

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NIESR
Testing the link between non-cognitive skills and academic achievement.
Schools: 30 Grant: £687,000
Key Stage: 3 Duration: 8 year(s) 2 month(s) Type of Trial: Efficacy Trial
Completed March 2020

The project

Healthy Minds is a personal, social, and health education curriculum for secondary school pupils (Years 7 to 10), which aims to improve pupils’ wellbeing and health-related outcomes.

The programme, developed by Bounce Forward, comprises a set of 14 modules developed from elements of different evidence-based health-promoting programmes. The lessons, which should be taught directly by a trained teacher or a learning support assistant, take about one hour per week, and either replace schools’ existing PSHE lessons, or can be built into the school week at other times. It is intended to be delivered to pupils over four years, from Years 7 to 10 (covering ages 11 to 15).

EEF summary

There is a great deal of evidence which suggests that non-cognitive skills are as important as cognitive skills in determining academic results, and that children from poorer backgrounds tend to have weaker non-cognitive skills than their better-off peers. A recent meta-analysis suggested that programmes aimed at promoting pupils’ resilience and wellbeing could have a significant impact on academic achievement. This programme was funded as it represented a promising solution.

This trial has two impact reports: one that explored whether the programme has an impact on health related outcomes (results published in 2019) and one exploring impact on academic attainment, whilst also assessing effects on absence and exclusions.

The first evaluation report, which measured health outcomes found a positive impact on the primary outcome, self-assessed general health. Positive effects were also observed for some secondary outcomes, especially for physical health and externalising behaviour; effects on measures of internalised emotions were close to zero after four years of the programme.

The second report found no impact on academic attainment (Attainment 8 scores as primary outcome, reading and maths as secondary outcomes) but found some evidence of lower levels of absence, especially among Year 7 pupils, and some indication of lower rates of exclusions among FSM pupils.

Overall, this means that Healthy Minds has some positive impact on health-related outcomes without compromising academic attainment and possibly supporting reducing absenteeism and exclusions.

Were the schools in the trial similar to my school?

Project type: Efficacy TrialKey Stage: Key Stage 3Subject: Cross curriculum
  • There were 34 schools involved in the trial, however only 32 schools had provided pupil data at the point of randomisation.
  • It was estimated that a total of 10,685 pupils took part in the trial, however analysis is reported only for 9,410 pupils, mainly due to two schools not having provided pupil data at the point of randomisation.
  • A higher proportion of schools within the sample had been rated as requiring improvement or inadequate by Ofsted at their most recent inspection compared with the national average at the time
  • Most schools were located in urban areas and there was a mix of school types, although the majority were academy schools

Could I implement this in my school?

Delivered by: SLT, Teachers, TAsParticipant group: Whole School Intervention length: 4 years
  • School staff receive in-depth training in delivering the programme along with resources including lesson plans, teacher notes and workbooks. This comprises 7 days of training for Year 7 teachers; 6 days of training in Year 8; 2 days in Year 9; and 4 days in Year 10.
  • Training required a fairly substantive time commitment and was rated highly by participants.
  • Teachers reported challenges related to timetabling (particularly in Year 10, when there was sometimes pressure to make space for other lessons) and teacher turnover (with new teachers needing to be trained).
  • The intervention is commercially available and currently provided to schools by Bounce Forward

How much will it cost?

Cost per pupil: £23.50No. of teachers/TAs: VariableStaff training duration: 7 days

The estimated costs of providing training and resources to deliver Healthy Minds stand at £23.50 per pupil per year. This estimation is at time of trial. The developer has since changed the training model, which is likely to result in a reduction in costs.

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