Better schools through health: learning from practice

11. PUPILS AS HEALTH PROMOTERS AND RESEARCHERS ONUNDERSTANDING, GENUINENESS AND RESPECTKaterina Sokou, PhD.Institute of Child HealthGreeceBackgroundFrom the mid 1980s until 2009, all types of bullying have increased in Greek primaryand secondary schools. Recent research findings show that about 67% of pupils haveexperienced bullying in the school community and about 63% have practiced it.There is evidence that health promoting school projects through the activeparticipation of pupils can counteract the emerging culture of bullying andviolence.Bullying was the problem that the school headmaster of the 24 th Primary School ofPiraeus, Greece, together with other teachers, pupils and parents wanted to solve.A few pupils in the school, supported by their parents, had cultivated a culture ofbullying which made the school feel unfriendly. School breaks sometimes evenended in such violence as resulted in broken arms or noses.Description of the projectDuring 2007-2008 the school headmaster invited researchers and school healthpromoters from the Institute of Child Health to help them develop a health promotingschool project. Researchers in collaboration with school teachers made an assessmentof the school conditions. They implemented an eight month school health promotionproject, starting in October 2006 and ending in May 2007. It was carried out by thepupils and was coordinated by the teachers. The project was carried out on a fixedday and time during the week. It included two continuous hours as part of the schoolcurriculum which was the official time provided for organised innovative schoolactivities. Health promoters had monthly meetings with the 4 teachers/coordinatorsand 6 meetings with the pupils who were the active participants.The main objective of the project, mutually agreed by pupils, teachers and thehealth promoters, was to change the school climate and to develop a friendlyschool emphasising understanding, genuineness and respect among school pupils,parents and teachers. The aims of the project included teachers’ training in healthpromotion skills, pupils’ empowerment and active participation in all the activitiesand project dissemination, evaluation and sustainability. The expected results were:the change of the school climate, the improvement of relations among all schoolpupils, teachers, and parents with teachers, awareness of the need for emotionalhealth, the dissemination of the project to other schools, the sustainability of theproject for another school year.The methods of the project developed according to the guide: ‘Developmentof Emotional Health in the School Community: A Health Promoting Guide forSchools’(ICH, E. Bada). The methods included teachers training, research throughquestionnaires and interviews made by pupils to pupils, teachers and parents, storieswritten by pupils, pupils’ drawings, role playing, theatre, games, festival for thedissemination and process evaluation of the project.48