Many schools are neglecting students' health, wellbeing, warn experts

Education policy in England "increasingly encourages schools to maximize students' academic attainment and ignore their broader wellbeing, personal development, and health," they write.

They point out that personal, social, and health education (PSHE) remains a non-statutory subject, and argue that schools "spend less and less time teaching it because of pressure to focus on academic subjects."

They suggest that these developments are apparently underpinned by two ideas. Firstly, that more time spent on health and wellbeing results in less time for academic learning and therefore lower attainment. Secondly, that improving attainment is singularly crucial to increasing economic competitiveness.

But they believe that both these ideas are "deeply flawed."

They point to a growing body of evidence suggesting that promoting students' broader wellbeing and development also benefits their academic learning.

Rigorous evaluations suggest that school programs to improve students' health also benefit their attainment. And countries such as Finland, Sweden, Australia and Singapore -- that all place greater emphasis on students' overall development and wellbeing -- achieve better academic attainment than in England, they add.