Societal changes, effects of globalization, demands experienced by youths as regards appearance all put pressure on young people which manifests itself in stress and physical ill-health. Frequent research reports, both international, European and Swedish, identify negative effects on both girls and boys, which affect their possibilities to success as students.  This paper reports on empirically-based evidence investigating the link between student learning and the health-promoting processes provided for in 33 Swedish municipal and independent secondary and upper secondary schools in seven municipalities spread across the country.  

To investigate the complex area Hoy and Miskel’s model (2008) of the school as a social system is employed.  This open-systems model views schools as organizations as both influenced by environments and dependent on them. The schools experience inputs, such as environmental constraints, resources, and in this particular study a mission concerning student learning and health-promotion expressed in National School act and curriculum.  The National School act expects welfare staff members to support student learning in relation to national goals, to promote health and to work in a preventive way. The schools are according to the theoretical model to subject these inputs to an educational transformation process.  This transformation process is influenced by four key elements: structural, cultural, political and individual elements.  The mission concerning student learning and health-promotion is through the transformation process expected to produce outputs, in this case in the form of student learning and health.  

The perspective reported on in this paper concerns principal leadership of student welfare staff to enhance student learning in accordance with goals in the national school act and curriculum. Leadership is here defined as a function of the leader, the followers and the situation (Hughes et al. 2002; Pierce & Newstrom 2008).

The research question areas are:

Inputs: e.g. the goals for student health-promotion processes, the organization of student health- promotion to enhance student learning, the steering of health-promotion processes

Processes: questions related to structure, culture, politics and individual views on the area of interest, e.g. the role of the principal, the role of teachers and welfare staff, the cooperation between teachers and welfare staff members.

Processes- outputs: The relation between health-promoting processes and student learning as academic, social and civic outcomes.

References, examples: Gustafsson, Lars H. (2009) Elevhälsa börjar i klassrummet (student health care begins in the classroom), Studentlitteratur. Hoy, W. K., & Miskel, C. G. (2008). Educational administration: theory, research, and practice (8th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Hughes, R. L., Ginnett, R. C., & Curphy, G. J. (2002). Leadership: enhancing the lessons of experience (4th ed.). London: McGraw-Hill. Lpo94. (1994). Läroplan för det obligatoriska skolväsendet, förskoleklassen och fritidshemmet [Curriculum for the compulsory school, the pre-school class and the after school centre, in Swedish] Stockholm: Utbildningsdepartementet. Pierce, J. L., & Newstrom, J. W. (2008). Leaders & the leadership process: readings, self-assessments & applications (5th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Säljö, R., & Hjörne, E., (2010) Att platsa i en skola för alla : elevhälsa och förhandling om normalitet i den svenska skolan - med samtalsguide. Norstedts Akademiska Förlag. (a Swedish study on student welfare and normality in Swedish schools, a study on how students are talj¨ked about i wekfare staff teams aso.) SOU 2070:95 (2010) Slutbetänkande från Utredningen om utsatta barn i skolan. Se, tolka och agera - allas rätt till en likvärdig utbildning. (an investigation of children in need of special support in schools)