Health outcomes and learning experiences
This project is funded by the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation as part of their review of the Social Outcomes of Learning. The project will run from June 2005 to March 2006.
For further information on this project, please contact Ricardo Sabates.
Research suggests that the relationship between learning experiences and health outcomes is pervasive. Health professionals have long known about the link between educational attainment and health outcomes, but the association is typically interpreted more narrowly as a marker of socio-economic status. This is because differences in health by levels of education and income often mirror each other. More recently, however, there is preliminary evidence which shows that sizable differences in health for those with different levels of education are partly due to the effects of education and not solely to differences that precede or explain education, such as socio-economic status.
This potential effect raises two important issues that relate to education and health policy:
- A need for a better understanding of the return to investments in learning, and in particular the impact of education on health costs, including public health expenditures.
- A need for a better understanding of the determinants of equity in access and use of health care, and in particular the channels by which education can have an impact on health.
Our research considers:
- Family learning and functioning, in particular intergenerational factors.
- Links to social disadvantage.
- Learning effects on health at multiple levels, including the individual, community and macro levels.
- The role of different types and levels of education and other learning experiences e.g. adult education and training.
- Issues of causality and the channels by which the impact of learning is materialised.
- The possible negative effects of education on health outcomes.
- Policy levers and the possible policy implications of the identified relationships.
Because this is an OECD-wide project, we will survey the existing research and available data for all OECD member countries. This includes quantitative as well as qualitative sources of information.
