Better schools through health: learning from practice

web and to work with our international colleagues so that we become as efficient andas effective as possible.Our success has been quite remarkable. We have an agreement among our Premiersand the Prime Minister to promote inter-sectorial work on schools. Recently launchedfederal strategies on drugs, mental health, cancer, and other topics can now easily inviteprovinces/territories to join the discussion without our usual Canadian jurisdictionalwrangling. Canadian studies using multi-level analysis is at the forefront of suchresearch around the world. Our innovative use of knowledge exchange strategies suchas Communities of Practice and web 2.0 technologies is also effective as reported in ourongoing assessments and surveys. We have a self-financing knowledge network thatcan survive without external project funds and that includes electronic newsletters, anannual conference, blog and wiki-based tools.Four reasons for our previous and recent success have been;1. Despite the significance of our ideas and our long term vision, we have alwaysbeen able to translate our proposed actions into practical, small scaleprojects that can be funded by a variety of agencies and we have not triedto become a large organization2. We focus on understanding the needs and preferences of the participantsin our knowledge exchange activities. For example, our webinars and toolboxwikis are all focused on programs and practical applications for ourCanadian participants.3. Our effective and efficient use of webinar, wiki and blog technologies, donein conjunction with conference calls, email and face to face meetings/annualconference keeps people involved4. Leveraging the ideas and expertise from around the world and across ourvast country means that our participants meet and learn from new peopleand new ideas. This is both exciting as well as helps us to think outside ourtraditional boundaries.The International School Health Network (ISHN) is now committed to using these samefour strategies by creating “International Discussion Groups” that will gradually developa Glossary and Encyclopedia on school health, social development and other programs.These two reference tools will be supported by a series of Handbook Chapters built fromBibliographies of convenient, web-linked lists of research, reports and resources. Forthose interested in being part of these international knowledge translation activities,please contact dmccall@internationalschoolhealth.org.38