Evaluation of the State Programme for a Good Healthy School in the State of Brandenburg

School as a place of teaching and learning is considered a central setting for promoting and maintaining the health of students, but also of teachers and non-teaching staff. Contemporary intervention approaches are characterised by a high degree of complexity in that they address different thematic focal points (chosen by the schools themselves), address all relevant target groups and use different intervention strategies. The good healthy school is considered a complex intervention approach of school health promotion, the aim of which is to have a positive influence on the quality of education and upbringing in schools through health. In addition, the approach is based on various core principles (sustainability, holistic-ecological health concept, self-determination and participation, empowerment, salutogenesis and internal and external networking). In the federal state of Brandenburg, schools have been systematically supported in their development efforts to become good healthy schools since 2014. After an initial project period, the state programme has been continued for another three years since the 2017/2018 school year by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports in cooperation with 13 state cooperation partners. The object of the project is the summative and formative accompanying evaluation of the schools participating in the state programme. Quantitative and qualitative methods are used, which are systematically linked in the sense of a mixed-methods approach.

The aim of the evaluation project is, on the one hand, to examine the effectiveness of the state programme with regard to health and education-related parameters. In addition, the implementation process will be examined in order to identify success factors and barriers to the success of the project.

• Can positive effects in terms of health outcomes and educational outcomes be demonstrated from the measures implemented by each individual school?
• What role do different modes of implementation play in the success of the intervention at school level?
• What barriers and facilitating factors can be identified for the intersectoral cooperation of the actors involved in the state programme (at the school level as well as at the school group level)?

It is planned to collect data at the level of the individual school (e.g. pupils, teachers) as well as at the level of other actors involved in the state programme (e.g. school counsellors) at various points in time. Quantitative survey methods (written questionnaires) and qualitative survey methods (e.g. focus groups) will be used.

The quantitative data is analysed using univariate, bivariate and multivariate methods. The qualitative findings are analysed according to qualitative content analysis. In the sense of the mixed-methods approach, the quantitative and qualitative data are systematically linked with each other.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the study component of the summative evaluation with the aim of examining the effectiveness of the country programme with regard to health and education-related endpoints could not be implemented. Instead, the procedure was transferred to a status evaluation. This focuses on a survey of the current situation and primarily serves to record the initial situation and to derive specific needs of the schools participating in the state programme. The resulting findings continue at the interface to the evaluation of the implementation process, which could be implemented as planned.

A total of 33 schools (primary, secondary, special and comprehensive schools as well as grammar schools), 540 pupils (self-perception) and 641 pupils (external perception) as well as 384 teachers were included in the study. In the course of the interviews and focus groups, the data of eight school steering groups (30 participants) and five school counsellors (BUSS) were also evaluated.

The complete results report is available for download here.