The Health Education Programmes

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The Health Education Programmes

The school attempts to promote health in children and youth through a specialized programme “that contributing to the understanding, maintenance, and improvement of the health of pupils and school personnel, including health services, health education, and healthful school living.

      

         The healthful school living phase of the school health programme has been considered. The health services phase of the total school programme will be considered later.

                                                                                               

        The health education phase of the total school programme refers to "the process of providing learning experiences for the purpose of influencing knowledge, attitudes, and conduct relating to individual and group health.” This phase of the school health programme will be discussed in this chapter.


 

Health education and the schools

 

A recognition of the need for health education in the schools has developed through the years, as educators and the lay public health have come to realize the importance of providing learning

see ences which will result in healthful living ci more people. Furthermore, they have come to

more clearly the relationship of knowledges, attitudes, and practices in respect to health. :

 

        The importance of health has been taught by nducators since early times. Older generations tell shout how they received instruction in physiology, learned how to trace the flow of blood through the body and memorized long definitions of various anatomical and physiological aspects of the human body. This approach to health education, however, has changed over the years. Toward the end of the nineteenth century some new ideas were introduced into school curricula. This resulted from a feeling on the part of certain individuals that the evil effect of alcoholic beverages should be taught. They also felt there should be a greater emphasis on the hygienic aspects of living. As a result, these concepts became an important part of health teaching, especially in colleges. This emphasis continued until the early twentieth century. Then, the impact of World Wars I and II gave health education the impetus it needed to become firmly imbedded as an important part of the school programme. The public became aroused, for example, by the number of defects discovered in young men through selective service examinations. There has been an increased emphasis on the school health programme because of this public concern. Results of this emphasis have included passing state laws, developing courses of study publishing many textbooks dealing with health education, and providing for the training of special teachers in this ar Today, there is increased recognition that he education can play a very important role in helping to make individuals aware of their responsibility for not only their own health but also that of others. Health is rapidly being regarded as "everybody's business."

 

Health education and the school health programme.

 

It has been pointed out that this chapter is primarily concerned with health education. It is interested in those knowledges, attitudes, and practices essential to good health. The teacher attempts to provide educational experiences and give a background of scientific knowledge upon which healthful living is based and thus help to develop favourable understanding and attitudes. However, it must be recognized that health education is only one phase of the total school health programme. School health services and healthful school living are also important. The success of a school health programme is dependent upon the successful functioning and coordination of all three.

 

    Health education can play an important part in motivating children in the development of healthful habits and attitudes. Superstitions and fads can be proved unsound as a result of developing an attitude of appreciation for scientifically accurate knowledge.Such an attitude recognizes the importance of consulting qualified medical persons in regard to health matters, the dangers of self-diagnosis and self-medication, the need to distinguish between fact and fallacy, and the importance of obtaining health information from authoritative sources.


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