scholarly journals Quality Assurance in Teaching K–12 Health Education: Paving a New Path Forward

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 845-857 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Birch ◽  
Susan Goekler ◽  
M. Elaine Auld ◽  
David K. Lohrmann ◽  
Adrian Lyde
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Health Education ◽  
School Health ◽  
School Teacher ◽  
Professional Preparation ◽  
Health Educators ◽  
Education Teacher ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Health Teachers

To be effective, school health instruction should be taught by health educators who have graduated from accredited health education teacher education programs and are certified in health education. Unfortunately, the nation has failed to ensure that all those who teach health in schools are well prepared. States vary in the required coursework for health teachers in terms of initial licensure and continuing education for licensure renewal; most elementary teachers are not required to receive preparation in health education; health education and physical education are often viewed as synonymous disciplines; support for in-service education of health teachers is often lacking; and more research is needed in professional preparation and development of school health educators. This article provides a call to action in five areas to strengthen both the professional preparation and professional development of school health educators. Given that education is a social determinant of health, public health educators must become stronger allies in supporting school health to promote health equity. Public health practitioners can advocate to state and community school decision makers for comprehensive school health education taught by teachers with appropriate professional preparation and certification in health education. Public health faculty can educate their students about the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child framework and effective strategies for its implementation, and seek rigorous professional preparation and certification and accreditation standards for their school teacher preparation programs. National health and education organizations can call for new leadership and investments in health education teacher preparation and development for a brighter future.

Looking Back and Moving Forward: SOPHE’s 70 Years of Contributions to Health Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 793-801
Author(s):  
Julia M. Alber ◽  
John P. Allegrante ◽  
M. Elaine Auld ◽  
Jean Breny
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Education ◽  
School Health ◽  
Public Health Education ◽  
Professional Preparation ◽  
Health Educators ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
The Past ◽  
Education Profession ◽  
Looking Back

Founded in 1950, the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) provides leadership to the health education profession and promotes the health of all people through six strategic commitments: developing and promoting standards for professional preparation and credentialing of community and school health educators; stimulating research on the theory, practice, and teaching of health education; supporting elimination of health disparities and the achievement of health equity; providing continuing education of the health education workforce; advocating for policy and legislation affecting public health and health promotion; and supporting a network of local chapters. This article describes how SOPHE has pursued these strategic commitments during the past 70 years and discusses challenges that will influence the future of SOPHE and the contours of the research and practice agendas of the field going forward.

Challenges in teacher for school health education and promotion

2005 ◽  
Vol 12 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 162-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Becky J. Smith ◽  
William Potts-Datema ◽  
Ann E. Nolte
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Health Education ◽  
School Health ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Health Education ◽  
University Level ◽  
K 12 ◽  
The University ◽  
Health Education And Promotion

The health education and promotion profession is facing a series of teacher preparation challenges related to the delivery of quality school health education/promotion programmes. The challenges occurring in the United States are also present in a variety of other regions as the education structure attempts to ensure that students receive a sound preparation in health education and promotion during their school experience. The challenges can be categorised into the following areas: • Quality and quantity of professional preparation for teachers during their preservice university training; • Need for in-service of teachers already in the K-1 2 workforce (in the USA grades K -12 are broadly equivalent to ages five to 17 years); • University faculty workforce professional development needs; • Research to provide baseline data for future standards development. Because there is a direct connection between community and school and parents and teachers at the K-1 2 level of education, the demand for highly skilled teachers and professional development is playing out at that level much more rapidly than at the university level. The relative isolation of some university faculty and programmes has developed an interesting situation in which many administrators and master teachers at the K-12 level of education have a better grasp and understanding of new teaching and learning strategies and tools than professors at the university level. This has happened at the same time when there is also a shortage of university professors entering school health education/promotion teacher education. This confluence of realities may predicate the need for a radical change in university based teacher preparation in health education/promotion. The overwhelming challenge for many countries including the United States remains the large number of teachers in the current workforce who must be provided professional development experiences. Currently both the National Health Education Standards for K-1 students and teacher preparation standards in health education reflect best practice theory only. There is no national data to support the standards. During the next ten years it is imperative that nationwide data be collected, compiled and analysed on actual learning outcomes for both K-12 students and health education teacher candidates. This will allow the next set of standards at both of the above-mentioned levels to reflect the knowledge and skills that have been actually attained and demonstrated. It will also be a basis for creating revisions and expansions in such a way that national standards can be an actual measure by which student performance can be judged. It is hoped that the rising tide of both national and international interest in having an increasingly health literate population will inspire members of the profession to be creative in the development of educational approaches, strategic partnerships, and funding to put strong systems of teacher preparation in place for the future.

SPECIAL REVIEWS

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1950 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 362-367
Author(s):  
GEORGE M. WHEATLEY
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Education ◽  
Health Service ◽  
School Health ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
Marked Change ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Health Examination ◽  
School Health Service ◽  
Antibiotic Drugs

THERE has been a marked change in our concept of the term "school health service." Early activities in this field were almost wholly devoted to the control of communicable disease. Today, thanks to immunization, the antibiotic drugs and health education, most of the old enemies of child health have been conquered. As a result, the years that a child spends in school have been made the healthiest period of life, when appraised by the crude measure of mortality. Why then school health service? Let me first define what I mean by this term. It comprises health supervision of the school child by educators, public health nurses and school physicians for case-finding and health guidance. At no other time of life is the child or family so readily available for preventive medical service and health education. Public health cannot afford to neglect this ready access to so large a segment of the population—actually more than 20 million persons. Entrance to kindergarten and first grade is perhaps the most valuable of these opportunities. For all too many children, this is the first health examination since the first year of life. Habit disorders or physical defects which have developed in the preschool years can be brought to light and treatment advised. A convincing demonstration of the value of a good medical examination at this time of life occurred recently when I was instructing a group of fourth year medical students. As part of their pediatric training, they visited a school to do some examinations under supervision.

scholarly journals Objectives and the Past—Community Health Education

1988 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-9
Author(s):  
William Griffiths
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Education ◽  
Community Health ◽  
School Health ◽  
Public Health Education ◽  
Community Health Education ◽  
The Past ◽  
School Health Education ◽  
Education Today ◽  
In The Beginning

If we view health education historically, one finds that in the beginning, there were two components: school health education and community health education, the latter often referred to as public health education. Today our panel has identified three additional specialty health education areas but many more exist.

Evaluation of an Innovative Comprehensive School Health Education Teacher Training

1999 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 173-179
Author(s):  
Mohammad R. Torabi ◽  
Nancy Ellis ◽  
Barbara Alborn ◽  
Molly Wantz ◽  
Marlene Tappe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Training ◽  
Health Education ◽  
School Health ◽  
Comprehensive School ◽  
Education Teacher ◽  
Comprehensive School Health ◽  
School Health Education
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