“Sleep is something that is really fundamental … but can quite often be overlooked” - An exploration of Educational Psychologists’ and secondary school staff’s perspectives on the importance of sleep and their role in promoting adolescent sleep in Wales

Donovan, Eloise 2026. “Sleep is something that is really fundamental … but can quite often be overlooked” - An exploration of Educational Psychologists’ and secondary school staff’s perspectives on the importance of sleep and their role in promoting adolescent sleep in Wales. DEdPsy Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Aims: Given the introduction of Health and Wellbeing Area of Learning Experience (AOLE) in Curriculum for Wales (CfW), sleep promotion can now be understood as part of schools’ role. Therefore, the current study aimed to explore secondary school staff’s (SS) and Educational Psychologists’ (EPs) perspectives on the importance of sleep and their roles in promoting adolescent sleep. This was undertaken from a systemic (Bronfenbrenner, 1992) and solution-focused (Rhodes & Ajmal, 1995) lens in order to explore how adolescent sleep promotion can be supported within existing systems. Method: Semi-structured interviewed were utilised to gather the perspectives of five EPs and two SS and were analysed using a combined Reflexive Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021). Findings: Five over-arching themes were generated: 1) “Sleep is something that is really fundamental in lots of ways but I think can quite often be overlooked”, 2) Once You Know, You Know: Navigating Professional Purpose and Boundaries in Relation to Sleep, 3) Making the Invisible Visible: Enacting Sleep Promotion Through Information-Sharing, 4) Limited Capacity within Systems as a Barrier to Sleep Promotion, 5) It Can Be Hard but We Will Do It Anyway: Locating Opportunities for Sleep Promotion within Schools. Conclusions: This study highlighted the interaction between why participants believe sleep is an important consideration and how they negotiate bringing this into their role, within relational and systemic boundaries. These findings emphasise the importance of professional autonomy and competence in the meaningful embedding of sleep within CfW, highlighting the need for collaboration within and beyond school and shared understanding of sleep’s importance (relatedness). Keywords: sleep promotion, adolescents, secondary School Staff, Educational Psychologists

Item Type:	Thesis (DEdPsy)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Psychology
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	7 July 2026
Last Modified:	16 Jul 2026 09:05
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/188023

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