The school has been identified as an important setting for promoting the health and well-being of children. The settings-based approach to health promotion is founded on the Ottawa Charter (World Health Organisation, WHO, 1986), which acknowledged the influence that the surroundings can have on an individual’s health and prioritises improving the health of the whole school rather than health at the individual level. The school setting provide an opportunity and location to reach a large number of children over many years (Notara and Sakellari, 2013; Naidoo and Wills, 2000), and for health promotion and improvement activities for children, and young people.

The principles of the Health Promoting School (HPS) as outlined by the European Network of Health Promoting Schools (ENHPS), now known as the Schools for Health in Europe (SHE) Network, encourage schools across Europe to adopt a strategy that seeks to promote the health and wellbeing of children and young people, and of the whole school environment, including the social and physical environment of the school (Barnekow et al., 2006). The physical and social environments of the school are important dimensions, which are considered important for promoting the health and wellbeing of children (Buijs, 2009).

One of the principles within the settings-based approach is that of participation, which recognises the importance of encouraging the development of the decision-making capacity in order to initiate appropriate action. Within school, the emphasis on a participatory approach to learning has demonstrated a potential for developing young people into active and responsible members of society, as well as ensuring the sustainability of health promotion programmes by encouraging ownership via participation (Jensen and Simovska, 2005).

Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states that children and young people have the right to participate freely in matters that affect them (UN, 1989). In relation to the school setting von Wright (2006) demonstrates that the right of children to participate in their schools has been awarded some level of recognition. This supports the first principle, Democracy, of the Health Promoting School (HPS) movement, which views health in a holistic way, and encourages the involvement of young people in describing what health is (Jensen, 1997).

The HPS principles includes the concepts of empowerment and democracy, with the aim of developing children and young people’s competencies and skills so that they can be encouraged to make health promoting choices (Barnekow et al., 2006; Buijs, 2009). The concepts of empowerment and democracy provide an environment where children can work together with adults and are given the opportunity and encouragement to share their views and perspectives on issues related to them. Thus, many nations, in Europe and other parts of the globe, have enacted policies, made recommendations and developed programmes that enhance the facilitation of children and young people’s participation in the school (Simovska and Jensen, 2009).

This proposal aims to identify similarities or differences between Nigerian and Irish school children based on an instrument developed in an European context, conceptualised by European primary school pupils and if these concepts could be translated to African schools although considering the different school environment/system, family structure and other distinct factors.

World Health Organisation (1986).Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, First International Conference on Health Promotion Ottawa, 21 November 1986, WHO/HPR/HEP/95.1. NotaraV. R. H. V. andSakellariE. R. H. V. (2013). Health Promotion and School Health: the Health Visiting Role in Greece. International Journal, 6(1), 37. Naidoo J. and Wills J. (2000). Health Promotion: Foundations for Practice. Elsevier Health Sciences, 2000. Barnekow V, Buijs G, Clift S, Jensen BB, Paulus P, Rivett D and Young I. (2006). Health-Promoting Schools: A Resource for Developing Indicators. International Planning Committee (IPC): European Network of Health Promoting Schools. Buijs G. J. (2009). Better schools through health: networking for health promoting schools in Europe.Eur J Educ, 44:507–519. Jensen, B. B. and Simovska, V. (2005), “Involving students in learning and health promotion processes- clarifying why? what? and how?”, IUHPE- Promotion and Education, Vol. 12, No. 3-4, pp. 150-156. United Nations (1989), Convention on the Rights of the Child, United Nations, Geneva. Jensen, B. B. (1997), “A case of two paradigms within health education”, Health Education Research, Vol.12, pp. 419-428. Simovska, V., and Jensen, B. B. (2009), Conceptualizing Participation-the Health of Children and Young People, WHO Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen. John-Akinola, Y. O., and NicGabhainn S. (2014) Children's participation in school: a cross-sectional study of the relationship between school environments, participation and health and well-being outcomes. BMC Public Health 14, 1: 964.