Better schools through health: learning from practice
Better schools through health: learning from practice
Better schools through health: learning from practice
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for Community Medical staff in <strong>health</strong> promotion and nine hundred and thirty-eightteachers have been trained in new teaching methods and how to promote HPS to theircolleagues.The aim of the project is to certify the improvement that <strong>schools</strong> achieve in the sixareas and in 2007 fifty nine <strong>schools</strong> were successful in all identified areas. Specificachievement in individual areas was as follows:In the area “school ethos” twenty-one <strong>schools</strong> achieved the objective to guaranteedemocracy and equity in the school <strong>through</strong> an analysis of the <strong>health</strong> needs of thepupils.The area “organisation and leadership”, was not approached by any school.In the area “social climate” ten <strong>schools</strong> achieved the objective to promote inclusion<strong>through</strong> participation of pupils and parents in the local school <strong>health</strong> team, givingvisibility to the work done by the children about <strong>health</strong> topics.In the area “curriculum about <strong>health</strong> topics” fifty-three <strong>schools</strong> achieved the objectiveto structure the formal curriculum about <strong>health</strong> topics, and to develop it in all targetclasses. Health topics, integrated in the curriculum and taught with active andparticipatory methods, taking an approach of ten or more hours, were treated asfollows: Hygiene by sixteen <strong>schools</strong>, oral <strong>health</strong> by twenty-six <strong>schools</strong>, mental andsocial <strong>health</strong> by eighteen <strong>schools</strong>, gender and sexual education by seventeen <strong>schools</strong>,physical activity by twenty-seven <strong>schools</strong>, nutrition by thirty <strong>schools</strong>, smoking habitsand illicit use of drugs by thirty-four <strong>schools</strong>, emergency and accident prevention byforty-three <strong>schools</strong>, environment and pollution by twenty-one <strong>schools</strong>. The averagenumber of <strong>health</strong> topics treated by a <strong>health</strong> promoting school is 3.9.In the area ‘environment and school opportunities’ three <strong>schools</strong> achieved the objectiveto improve the scholastic atmosphere and well-being <strong>through</strong> the participation ofparents and pupils.The objective ‘to supply opportunities for <strong>health</strong> <strong>through</strong> the school setting’ wasachieved as follows: smoke-free context by twenty-nine <strong>schools</strong>; walking bus byfour <strong>schools</strong>, brushing teeth after lunch by one school, providing fruit snacks by six<strong>schools</strong>.In the area ‘alliance with stakeholders’ eight <strong>schools</strong> achieved the objective to developalliances with families, involving parents in <strong>health</strong>-related events.Conclusions and lessons learntFrom this experience we learned that <strong>schools</strong> need support with the challenge ofdealing with <strong>health</strong> promotion. Organisational investment is needed which means thatschool managers must be involved in the whole process. Teachers need continuousprofessional development especially with regard to planning in order to identifyobjectives and select appropriate indicators. Experiences should be shared amongst allinvolved in order to foster a strong culture of dealing with these <strong>health</strong> topics. Centraland local authorities should develop <strong>health</strong> promoting policy to ensure that <strong>health</strong>services are part of this process supporting and monitoring this work towards makingevery school a <strong>health</strong> promoting environment.24