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Collaborating with schools for public health research in England: lessons learned for successful partnerships

  • Ivelina Tsocheva
    ,
  • Jasmine Chavda
    ,
  • James Scales
    ,
  • Rosamund E. Dove
    ,
  • Harpal Kalsi
    ,
  • Helen E. Wood
  • Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research
    ,
  • Queen Mary University of London
    ,
  • Imperial College London
    ,
  • MRC - Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma
Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Open access

Sustainable Development Goals

  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
    SDG 3 Good Health and Well

Abstract

Carrying out health research with schools can be both challenging and highly rewarding. Here we describe lessons learned from a research partnership lasting over 5 years, initially with 84 primary schools in London and Luton, and extended to 35 secondary schools, during our children health cohort study. This period included school closures and societal disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic, creating additional challenges to ongoing school participation. Our study involved annual health assessment visits to schools to test over 3000 participants and parental self-report questionnaires, to assess the potential benefits of air quality improvements arising from London Ultra Low Emission Zone (introduced in April 2019) on children’s lung development and health. Measures included height, weight, pre- and post- bronchodilator spirometry, physical activity monitoring, cognitive assessment, epigenetic markers of disease risk, SARS-CoV-2 IgE and IgM antibody testing, and heavy metals testing. The average annual participant attrition for our study was 11.6%. The acceptable threshold outlined in the initial protocol was 20%. All schools continued to participate in the study for 5 years. Central to the study success have been: shared agreement on the importance of the research topic; early preparatory work with stakeholders, a parallel engaging and innovative air pollution learning and outreach programme, incentivising school/teacher co-operation and parental questionnaire completion to boost response rates and mitigate non-response bias; and continuity of contact with the accessible and flexible research team. These successes form a template for other health research studies planning long-term engagement with schools.

Publication Information

Output type

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Original language

English

Article number

11786302251328831

Journal (Volume, Issue Number)

Environmental Health Insights (Volume 19)

Publication milestones

  • Accepted/In press - 01/03/2025
  • Published - 12/08/2025

Publication status

Published - 12/08/2025

External Publication IDs

  • handle.net: 10547/626763
  • ORCID: /0000-0001-7681-1430/work/196931462
  • Scopus: 105013752694

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