USING HEALTH DATA IN THE CLASSROOM

Using real world data can help to introduce students to complex social issues.  It can help them to understand their own experiences against the backdrop of data about their age group. Data can bring things to life and spur on conversations and debate. They can provide raw material to use as a jumping off point for more nuanced discussion. Using data and charts also introduces ideas around how to interpret and challenge quantitative information – important parts of data literacy. 

There are lots of data about young people’s health publicly available, but they are not always easy to find. In our ‘Key Data for Young People’ resource we have tried to information together.  In this section, we have taken some of the key findings that seem to be most useful in terms of teaching the health education curriculum in England and Wales. 

Mental health and wellbeing

There is much debate about young people’s mental health, and we know this is a topic of great importance to young people themselves. Mental health problems have important implications for every aspect of young people’s lives. The mental health and wellbeing parts of the PSHE curriculum for secondary school include mental wellbeing statistics. We have selected some that might be particularly relevant for this section of the health curriculum.

It is important to know that the majority of young people rate their own wellbeing as good – for example in surveys by the Office for National Statistics, over 70% of young people say they are satisfied with their lives, are living worthwhile lives, were happy yesterday, and are happy with their appearance.

However, the teenage years see the start of mental health problems for some young people. Half of all mental health problems usually start before the age of 18, and a peak age of onset at 14.5 years. Mental health disorders increase in the early teens for both genders, and then continue increasing into the late teens for young women.

The problems experienced vary a little by gender, with girls experiencing more depression and anxiety than boys, and boys having more problems with behaviour.

In the years before the pandemic, there was evidence from repeated, large surveys that mental health problems had risen slightly for 11-15 year olds between 1999 and 2017, although perhaps not as much as people thought.

The Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 seems to have increased the risk of mental health problems, at least for some groups of young people. The rates are not directly comparable with the previous chart, as they measure ‘probable’ mental disorder, rather than definite disorder.

The Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 seems to have increased the risk of mental health problems, at least for some groups of young people.  The rates are not directly comparable with the previous chart, as they measure ‘probable’ mental disorder, rather than definite disorder.

For more information on mental health and wellbeing, see the Key Data website pages on Mental health and Service use.

Physical health and fitness

Young people’s activity levels are critical to their overall health.  Current UK guidelines for young people recommend at least one hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day.  But just under half of secondary school pupils manage this much.

Walking to and from school is a good way of getting exercise. It is the most common way for secondary age pupils to get to school.

For more information on physical health and fitness, see the Key Data website pages on Population and overall health (including mortality statistics) and Public health outcomes.

Health and prevention

There are lots of important ways of protecting your health for the future, including sleep and diet.

In adolescence there is a natural shift in the body clock, so that young people feel sleepy later in the evening and are less awake in the morning than adults.  However getting enough sleep is vital to health.  Most people need between 8-10 hours of sleep every night when they are in their teens.  Many do not get this much.  As people go from Year 6, through Year 8 and to Year 10, the among of sleep they get tends to fall.

The Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 seemed to increase young people’s sleep a bit.  By June 2021, more were getting 8 hours sleep than they were in March 2020.

Diet is also critical to good health. Very few young people are eating enough fruit and vegetables.

For more information on health and prevention, see the Key Data website pages on Public health outcomes.