'Fiery Souls' and Health Promoting Sustainable School Development

Author(s):

Katrine Dahl Madsen(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

08. Research on Health Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

08 SES 14 JS, Highlighting Different Voices in Physical Activity, Health and Sustainability Education: Teachers, Children and Youth Perspectives

Paper Session Joint Session NW 08, NW 18 and NW 30

Time:

2014-09-05

15:30-17:00

Room:

B215 Sala de Aulas

Chair:

Per Sund

Discussant:

Venka Simovska

Contribution

Introduction

Education for sustainable development and health education are fields often driven by a few frontrunners burning for the case (Breiting & Wickenberg 2010; Jourdan 2011). They work to promote sustainability, environmental issues or health, based on a wish to change existing unsustainable or unhealthy structures and practices at schools. As researchers within the fields, it is often these voices we meet in networks and seminars. The focus of this paper is the following question: How is space made for the work of these ‘fiery souls’ within sustainability and health, what kind of supporting structures exist (Wickenberg 2004) within a school framework, and what contradictions and tensions do this work imply?

The paper is based on current research within Research center for health promoting sustainable school development (shs.au.dk) at Aarhus University in Denmark. The overall aim of this research center is to explore how educaton for sustainable development (ESD) and health promotion are interpreted and formed as school practices, and the factors which could support this work. As part of the research center, a knowledge exchange network has been established consisting of researchers, key actors from municipalities, headmasters and teachers working within the fields of ESD/environmental education and health education. At these network meetings we have met 'fiery souls' at various levels – civil servants in the municipalities burning for the case, health coordinators at schools struggling to engage colleagues, and dynamic school leaders profiling their school as a ‘health promoting school’ or ‘sustainability school’.

In Denmark both sustainable development and health education form cross curricular themes to be integrated across subjects and levels in primary and lower secondary schools. However, these issues are often not well known among teachers or unfolded as teaching and learning practices, nor supported by teacher education or in service training (Nordin 2013; Breiting & Wickenberg 2010). This might call for individuals to 'pick up the ball and run with it', if sustainability and health should be integrated in the teaching/learning and everyday life of the school. History shows that this has often been the case (Breiting & Wickenberg 2010).

The paper is inspired by theory on mediators, networks and practice of communities (Ferreira & Davis 2012; Læssøe 2009; Gherardi 2006) and norm supporting structures (Wickenberg 2004). This perspective points to the importance of social learning, negotiations and participation processes and the mutual interplay between agents of social change and the cultural and institutional framework.

Method

Methods The paper is based partly on qualitative research carried out at municipality level in Denmark, involving document analysis and interview with key actors in 10 municipalities working within the fields of sustainable development and health promotion in relation to schools. Further, the analysis is based on observations, presentations and talks at meetings in the knowledge exchange network of the research center. As such, it is the practices as seen from ‘inside’ - from the perspectives of deeply engaged key actors in municipalities and headmasters and teachers - which form the analytical starting point.

Expected Outcomes

Observations from the network meetings point to development of professional identities, as the school's 'health person' or 'environmental man', and that competence development takes place by participation in networks and seminars, made possible by supporting structures at municipality or school level. Further, these deeply engaged teachers work as a way into the group of teachers for the headmaster or municipality, and as such the ‘health coordinator’ is offered a special role at the school. However, the fact that the work is often driven by only a few persons, not supported by broader structures (Wickenberg 2004) at national level, such as teacher education or in-service training, might limit a broader anchoring of the work with sustainability and health at the schools, or even be counterproductive as it might create opposition or make others hand over the work to the engaged person (Læssøe 2009). To meet the skepticism of colleagues, various strategies are put in play, such as anchoring the ideas in various departments at the school or introduce a finished package for the headmaster, ready to be approved. At school level teachers and civil servants stress the support of the headmaster as crucial, to ensure the required space for social change at the schools. At the same time, a busy headmaster seems dependent on the work of deeply involved teachers, to do the initial research and preparations, explore possible ways of approaching the work with sustainability education and health education, and to exchange knowledge and experience with other schools and municipalities.

References

References Breiting, S. & Wickenberg, P. (2010): The Progressive Development of Environmental Education in Sweden and Denmark. Environmental Education Research, 16: 19-37. Ferreira, J.A. Davis, J. (2012) Problematizing the processes of participation in networks: working through the rhetoric. Environmental Education Research, 18:5, 687-697. Gherardi, S. (2006): Organizational Knowledge. The texture of Workplace Learning. Blackwell Publishing. Jourdan, D. (2011) Health Education in schools. The challenge of Teacher Training. Saint-Denis: Inpes, Coll. Sant’e en action. Læssøe, J. (2009) Den sundhedsfremmende mediator. Roller, tilhørsforhold og dilemmaer [The health promoting mediator. Roles, belongings and dilemmas, in: Carlsson, M., Simovska, V., Jensen, B.B (Eds.): Sundhedspædagogik og sundhedsfremme – teori, forskning og praksis [Health education and health promotion – theory, research and practice]. Aarhus University publisher. Lindegaard Nordin, L. (2013) Fra politik til praksis. Implementering af kommunale sundhedsfremmeprojekter med fokus på kost og fysisk aktivitet fra et lærerperspektiv [From politics to practice. The implementation of municipality health promoting initiatives focusing on healthy food and physical activity. Ph.D dissertation, IUP, Aarhus University. Wickenberg, P. (2004): Norm supporting structures – in environmental education and education for sustainable development. In: Wickenberg, P. et al. (Eds.) Learning to change our world? Swedish Research on Education and Sustainable Development. Studentlitteratur.

Author Information

Katrine Dahl Madsen (presenting / submitting)

Aarhus University, Denmark

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