Session Information
SES B 09, Poster Session
Poster Session
Contribution
Health Education (HE) as promotion of individual well-being and disease preventive strategy has not always been an easy task (Lavin, 1993; Leurs et al, 2007). It is typically regarded by some as a paradox (Rourke, 2005) and by others as utopian (Giordan, 2000, González, 2000, Dias et al, 2004).
Work in some HE topics regarding Education can cause some constraints due to rooted beliefs and values (Maney et al, 2000) and it also assumes that education professionals have acquired certain knowledge and skills (Leurs et al, 2007) that lead them to master methodologies aiming at the adoption of healthier lifestyles by children.
Nowadays, the role of the teacher/educator as a health promoter is not easy considering the risks that children face, some of them very hard to control or eliminate and that can substantially affect their health. Furthermore, it is not expected that schools alone (Masten & Sema, 1997, 1999) are able to resolve the numerous risk situations to which society in general is exposed (Jenson, 2008; Behrman, 2003), particularly children and youngsters. It is expected however that schools, in association with families and other members of the community, can promote interventions in order to prevent and minimize risk behaviour. Those conducts will determine the definition of which interventions should take place in educational context assuming HE in an individual and collective health promotion perspective. Therefore, HE should be considered a responsibility of us all : family, school and community (McKenzie et al, 2007).
In Portugal there are only a few studies in early childhood (EC), especially regarding teachers’ perceptions on the obstacles/barriers that may impair the development of health promotion practices in the everyday life of the kindergarten or in broader activities associated with the health project of the school.
Literature suggests the existence of barriers in the implementation of HE in schools. These obstacles are perceived by teachers as barriers in their practices, enabling an inadequate intervention in this area. According to Tappe et al.(1995) and Parker et al cited in McKenzie et al (2007), some barriers and obstacles mentioned by teachers refer to their lack of interest in HE themes, low self-confidence and little time to approach the various HE subjects.
Although the Portuguese Education Ministry indicate school and kindergarten as privileged institutions for the promotion of health, there are internal and external obstacles interfering with the innovation process of content integrative practices. Health education implies overcoming a compartmented and Cartesian approach of knowledge, which, as any other activity being developed in school context, may be dependent on how the several interveners deal with the obstacles they face, their beliefs regarding HE and their several experiences throughout their carriers.
This study aims at unveiling some of the obstacles at pre-school level that can inhibit the EC teachers’ intervention in HE.
In future studies, these results will be extrapolated in order to investigate whether these effectively perceived obstacles are related to other variables, such as initial and continued training, the children’s health needs, HE planning and the comfort level of the teachers while approaching HE subjects.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Gil, G. & Diniz, J.A.(2009). The HEPS Questionnaire as a reliable Statistical Instrument for the study of Health Education in Portuguese Early Childhood Education. The International Journal of Learning, 16(7) http://ijl.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.30/prod.2264 Gil, G. & Diniz, J.A. (2009). Early Childhood Teachers´ Perceptions of their Preparation and Competence to Teach Health Education: Preliminary Results with a Portuguese Sample. Poster presented in ECER 2009, Vienna: University of Vienna. Gil, G. & Diniz, J.A. (2008). Health Promotion in the Early Childhood Education: Pilot Study with a Portuguese Sample. Poster presented in ECER 2008, "From Teaching to Learning". Gothenburg: University of Gothenburg. Gil, G. (2007). Desenvolvimento de um questionário de avaliação das práticas de promoção da saúde na educação pré-escolar [Developing a questionnaire to assess health promotion practices in early childhood education]. In Proccedings of the 2nd International Congress on Learning in Childhood Education. P. Pequito, & A. Pinheiro (Orgs.),Quem aprende mais? Reflexões sobre educação de infância. Porto: ESE Paula Frassinetti, 523-534. Jenson, J. (2008). Children, new social risks and policy change: A LEGO ™ future?, Fostering Social Cohesion Working Paper 13, Canada: University of Montreal. Lavin, A. T. (1993). "Comprehensive school health education: barriers and opportunities. (Working together for the Future: 1992 Comprehensive School Health Education Workshop)." Journal of School Health. American School Health Association. Consultado em 24 Junho 2009 em HighBeam Research http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-13859857.html Leurs, M. Schaalma,H., Jansen, M., Mur-Veeman, I., Breukelen, G., & Vries, N. (2007), Comprehensive quality assessment of healthy school. Preventive Medicine, (45) 5, 366-372 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science [Acessed 26 September, 2008] McKenzie, J. Pinger, R. Kotecki, J. (2007). An Introduction to Community Health. http://books.google.com/books?id=WDZvrgN5GoC&printsec=frontcover&hl=pt-PT [Acessed 20 August, 2008] O’Rourke, T. W. (2005). “Promoting School Health – An Expanded Paradigm”. Journal of School Health, 75(3), pp: 112-114.
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