Developing trainee school teachers' expertise as health promoters

• Published in: Health education (Bradford, West Yorkshire, England) Vol. 110; no. 6; pp. 490 - 507
• Main Authors: Speller, Viv, Byrne, Jenny, Dewhirst, Sue, Almond, Palo, Mohebati, Lisa, Norman, Melanie, Polack, Sarah, Memon, Anjum, Grace, Marcus, Margetts, Barrie, Roderick, Paul
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bradford Emerald Group Publishing Limited 19.10.2010; Emerald
• Subjects: Access to Education; Child Health; Children; Children & youth; College students; Colleges & universities; Cooperation; Core curriculum; Departments; Drinking; Economics Education; Educational Needs; Educational Objectives; Educational Supply; Family (Sociological Unit); Foreign Countries; Government (Administrative Body); Health Education; Health Promotion; Higher Education; Labor Force Development; Learning; Longitudinal Studies; Nutrition; Obesity; Outcomes of Education; Pedagogical Content Knowledge; Preservice Teachers; Professional development; Professional standards; Public Health; Questionnaires; Role Perception; Schools; Smoking; Student Attitudes; Sustainable development; Teacher Education; Teacher Improvement; Teacher Qualifications; Teacher Role; Teachers; Teaching; Teaching Methods; Trainees; United Kingdom; Well Being; United Kingdom; United Kingdom; Teachers; Health education; Schools; Public health
• ISSN: 0965-4283; 1758-714X
• DOI: 10.1108/09654281011087288

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to report the outcome of an education and public health collaboration investigating the impact of adapted training to enhance teachers' potential role to promote child health and wellbeing.Design methodology approach - The study was conducted in three phases: a survey of the health education content in universities in initial teacher training courses; a longitudinal survey at the commencement and completion of courses to capture trainees' knowledge, skills and attitudes towards health and their role in health promotion; and mapping curriculum content against qualified teacher standards and public health competencies.Findings - Training about health varies largely between institutions. Trainees' knowledge levels remained low after training; ranked importance of key health topics - nutrition, alcohol, smoking, - decreased significantly; a majority thought that teachers and schools play an important role in health promotion, but significant increases were also noted in the minority who thought health promotion is not part of their remit (Phase 2).Originality value - To the best of one's knowledge, similar work has not so far been reported. While teachers are in a prime position to influence child health, trainees require knowledge and skills to realise their public health potential.