Theoretical framework:

Schools may play a special role in creating health behaviour. Since schools promote health, they may also influence attitudes and behaviours of students and their parents. For this reason, over the years there have been attempts to introduce health education into the core curricula in Polish schools. The efforts were successful only in 1997. However, health education was not introduced into timetables. Two years later,  in 1999, educational path of “pro-health education” was entered into curriculum of primary schools and lower secondary schools. In 2008 “health education” module was introduced in core curriculum of physical education in lower and upper secondary schools

Nowadays, school education is focused on comprehensive and harmonious development of students’ personalities in all aspects. Therefore, health education should be an integral part of teaching and educational process. Polish lawmakers assume that health education should be implemented at individual stages of educational process, in the framework of various school subjects, physical education classes in particular.

Objectives:

• Presenting the specifics of health education implementation in Polish schools, with particular emphasis on education in  lower and upper secondary schools,
• Learning the opinions of the physical education teachers on the implementation of the health education content,
• Specifying the content of  health education actually implemented within the framework of physical education classes.

Research questions:

• What health education content is actually implemented by the physical education teachers at the stage of lower and upper secondary schools?
• What is the attitude of the physical education teachers to implement health education content provided for in the core curriculum?
• How much time during a school year do the physical education teachers actually spend on the implementation of the health education content?
• What methods are used by the physical education teachers while implementing the health education content?
• What are the inhibitors and stimulators of health education implementation in the opinion of the physical education ?
• How do the physical education teachers evaluate the effectiveness of educational activities related to health education?
• Do the physical education teachers believe that they have the necessary expertise to carry out health education?

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