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Article
Publication date: 5 February 2018

LeAnne Petherick

The purpose of this paper is to explore issues of race and culture in health education in the secondary school health and physical education (HPE) curriculum in Ontario, Canada.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore issues of race and culture in health education in the secondary school health and physical education (HPE) curriculum in Ontario, Canada.

Design/methodology/approach

Using Ontario’s secondary school curriculum as a point of analysis, this paper draws from critical race theory and a whiteness lens to identify how cultural and race identities are positioned in contemporary health education documents. The curriculum document and its newest strategies for teaching are the focus of analysis in this conceptual paper.

Findings

Within the curriculum new teaching strategies offer entry points for engaging students in learning more about culture and race. In particular, First Nation, Métis and Inuit identities are noted in the curriculum. Specifically, three areas of the curriculum point to topics of race and culture in health: eating; substance use, abuse and additions; and, movement activities. Within these three educational areas, the curriculum offers information about cultural practices to teach about what it means to understand health from a cultural lens.

Social implications

The HPE curriculum offers examples of how Ontario, Canada, is expanding its cultural approaches to knowing about and understanding health practices. The acknowledgment of First Nations, Métis and Inuit health and cultural ways of approaching health is significant when compared to other recently revised HPE curriculum from around the globe. The teaching strategies offered in the curriculum document provide one avenue to think about how identity, culture and race are being taught in health education classrooms.

Originality/value

First, with limited analysis of health education policy within schools, the use of critical theory provides opportunities for thinking about what comes next when broadening definitions of health to be more inclusive of cultural and race identity. Second, curriculum structures how teachers respond to the topics they are delivering, thus how HPE as a subject area promotes healthy practices is highly relevant to the field of health education. This paper provides an important acknowledgment of the educative work being undertaken in the revision of HPE curriculum.

Details

Health Education, vol. 118 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-4283

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 25 April 2017

Colleen Fadale and Pamela Powell

An important process for teachers is shaping professional identity. Using narrative approaches to examine complexities of teaching and learning can be beneficial in both…

Abstract

An important process for teachers is shaping professional identity. Using narrative approaches to examine complexities of teaching and learning can be beneficial in both performing and understanding this shaping process. For teachers to develop a positive professional identity, they need to perceive that others view them as possessing those characteristics of a quality teacher and need to perceive that others view them as embodying the characteristics (Korthagen, 2004). Researching identity development of Health/Physical Education (HPE) preservice teachers as well as HPE teachers with various years of experience may provide insight regarding shaping teacher identity.

One key aspect is to look at how history has influenced Physical Education status and what can be done to increase PE status as an academic core discipline. By looking at how and why PE has been marginalized, as well as what can be done to decrease marginalization, is key to avoiding further devaluation of PE and its potential removal from the curriculum.

Article
Publication date: 5 February 2018

Jan Wright, Gabrielle O’Flynn and Rosie Welch

Health education still tends to be dominated by an approach designed to achieve individual behaviour change through the provision of knowledge to avoid risk. In contrast, a…

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Abstract

Purpose

Health education still tends to be dominated by an approach designed to achieve individual behaviour change through the provision of knowledge to avoid risk. In contrast, a critical inquiry approach educates children and young people to develop their capacity to engage critically with knowledge, through reasoning, problem solving and challenging taken for granted assumptions, including the socially critical approach which investigates the impact of social and economic inequalities on, for example, health status and cultural understandings. The purpose of this paper is to explore the conditions of possibility for a socially critical approach to health education in schools. It examines the ways in which preservice health and physical education (HPE) teachers talked about their experiences of health education during their school-based practicum.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 13 preservice HPE teachers who were about to graduate with a Bachelor of Health and Physical Education from a university in New South Wales, Australia were interviewed for the study. Five group interviews and one individual interview were conducted. The interviews were coded for themes and interpreted drawing on a biopedagogical theoretical framework as a way of understanding the salience of particular forms of knowledge in health education, how these are promoted and with what effects for how living healthily is understood.

Findings

The HPETE students talked with some certainty about the purpose of health education as a means to improve the health of young people – a certainty afforded by a medico-scientific view of health imbued with individualised, risk discourses. This purpose was seen as being achieved through using pedagogies, particularly those involving technology, that produced learning activities that were “engaging” and “relevant” for young people. Largely absent from their talk was evidence that they valued or practiced a socially critical approach to health education.

Practical implications

This paper has practical implications for designing health education teacher programmes that are responsive to expectations that contemporary school health education curricula employ a critical inquiry approach.

Originality/value

This paper addresses an empirical gap in the literature on the conditions of possibility for a socially critical approach to health education. It is proposed that rather than challenging HPE preservice teachers’ desires to improve the lives of young people, teacher educators need to work more explicitly within an educative approach that considers social contexts, health inequalities and the limitations of a behaviour change model.

Details

Health Education, vol. 118 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-4283

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 July 2022

Laura W. White, Kelly Elizabeth Jordan and Heidi McDermott

The purpose of this case study is to describe a simulation-based assessment designed to assure student readiness for a first full-time clinical experience in an entry-level Doctor…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this case study is to describe a simulation-based assessment designed to assure student readiness for a first full-time clinical experience in an entry-level Doctor of Physical Therapy program that transitioned to mixed-mode instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach

A cohort of 40 second-year physical therapy students whose content delivery mode, assessment methods and curricular sequence deviated from the curricular plan participated in a new assessment using standardized patients. The assessment was developed to preferentially address the knowledge, skills, abilities and professional behaviors (KSAs) that were typically assessed with other methods before the pandemic.

Findings

The assessment was useful in identifying students who required additional learning experiences to meet expected levels of competence before transition to a first full-time clinical experience. It also identified KSAs that needed to be strengthened within the entire cohort of students.

Research limitations/implications

This case study provides an example of feasible implementation of an assessment of student readiness for clinical education that may guide future development of standardized assessments in health profession education (HPE) programs that have or plan to transition to mixed-mode content delivery.

Originality/value

This case study highlights the need and process for developing and implementing additional assessments in HPE programs when planned changes or unexpected variations in curriculum delivery occur. This evidence-based assessment preferentially addresses the affective domain of learning and includes competency standards that have recently been developed for physical therapy education in the USA.

Details

Quality Assurance in Education, vol. 31 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0968-4883

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 October 2015

Zahra Ladhan, Henal Shah, Ray Wells, Stacey Friedman, Juanita Bezuidenhout, Ben van Heerden, Henry Campos and Page S. Morahan

The health workforce of the 21st century has enormous challenges; health professionals need to be both experts in their field and equipped with leadership and managerial skills…

Abstract

The health workforce of the 21st century has enormous challenges; health professionals need to be both experts in their field and equipped with leadership and managerial skills. These skills are not part of the regular curriculum, so specific programs bridging this gap are required. Since 2001, FAIMER®, with eight centers across the globe, has worked to create health professions education leaders through transformational learning experiences, developing a global community of practice encompassing over 40 countries. We describe the design, implementation, evaluation, and evolution of the leadership and management curriculum component of the global Institute over 15 years. The curriculum is developed and updated through practices that keep faculty and fellows connected, aligned, and learning together. The article highlights the unique features, challenges faced, and sustainability issues. With a robust mixed methods evaluation, there are substantial reasons to believe that the model works, is adaptable and replicable to meet local needs. The program is playing an important role of answering the call for training positive, strengths-based, collaborative leaders who are socially accountable and embrace the challenges for high quality equitable health care around the globe

Details

Journal of Leadership Education, vol. 14 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1552-9045

Article
Publication date: 7 August 2017

Jennifer Fane and Samantha Schulz

Equipping pre-service teachers with the skills and knowledge needed to teach health in socially critical ways requires pre-service teachers to examine and critique individualistic…

Abstract

Purpose

Equipping pre-service teachers with the skills and knowledge needed to teach health in socially critical ways requires pre-service teachers to examine and critique individualistic understandings of health. The purpose of this paper is to use Bourdieu’s concepts of the bodily hexis (the body as both separate from society (autonomous individuals) and the body as socially mediated (the influence of social forces upon individuals)) and pedagogic work to investigate the challenges of redressing the reproduction of individualistic conceptualizations of health in teacher education.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper focusses on an analysis of 31 pre-service teachers’ reflective writing in a foundational health education course, which sought to engage students in thinking about health in socially critical ways. A systematic and procedural form of document analysis was employed to examine and interpret data to investigate the ways in which students were engaging with the socially critical health discourses and course content.

Findings

The findings evidence that while students attempted to engage with and demonstrate their knowledge of a socially critical view of health, contradictions, or places where students unknowingly slipped into individualistic ways of thinking appeared frequently across the data. Findings are presented to elucidate challenges facing pre-service teachers in teaching the AC:HPE curriculum.

Practical implications

Findings suggest the need for teacher educators to employ pedagogic practices that can disrupt previous pedagogic work, serving to challenge and interrogate current constructions of health, and delve deeply into critical discourses through interchange and reflection.

Originality/value

This paper extends the current scholarship of Bourdieusian theoretical concepts in relation to critical health discourses and pedagogies.

Details

Health Education, vol. 117 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-4283

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 August 2021

Donna Barwood

The aim of this paper is to distinguish pedagogies supporting critical health literacy development in adolescent populations. Specifically, for sun safety education in schools.

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to distinguish pedagogies supporting critical health literacy development in adolescent populations. Specifically, for sun safety education in schools.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on an exploratory intrinsic case study design to qualitatively examine the learning conditions that Pre-Service Teachers' (PsTs) mobilise to advance Health Literary (HL) in learning activities.

Findings

This paper presents data that shows the different ways thirty Pre-Service Teachers (PsTs) in Western Australia conceptualise HL in sun safety education for Year 7 students (12–13 years old). Examination of three consecutive lesson plans categorised learning activities (n = 444) according to HL competencies. Data shows that the PsTs pedagogically advance HL but are constrained when conceptualising learning to support critical HL. Further examination of the lesson plans of the 11 PsTs who pedagogically advanced learning to support a critical level of health literacy, distinguished the learning conditions and pedagogies supporting critically health literate adolescents.

Originality/value

By distinguishing pedagogies to situate individual and social health within broader societal goals, the paper identifies teacher education institutions as key players enabling young people to socially advocate healthier living, particularly, regarding melanoma and non-melanoma incidence.

Details

Health Education, vol. 121 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-4283

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 March 2021

Rachael Dixon and Jenny Robertson

The COVID-19 pandemic has provided us a striking demonstration that the future is dynamic, unpredictable, complex and volatile. It is increasingly important that those working in…

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Abstract

Purpose

The COVID-19 pandemic has provided us a striking demonstration that the future is dynamic, unpredictable, complex and volatile. It is increasingly important that those working in the field of school-based health education reimagine the possibilities and potential of the subject to rise to the challenges presented and make a difference in learners' worlds. In this paper we explore the potential of health education learning to contribute to aspects of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD's) Learning Compass 2030 from our perspective in Aotearoa New Zealand. This is a learning framework that uses the metaphor of navigation to demonstrate the competencies young people need in order to thrive in the world and has a significant focus on wellbeing for people and society (OECD, 2019).

Design/methodology/approach

We explore the links between the learning compass and a socio-critical approach to secondary school-based health education learning opportunities by producing and refining our own knowledge of the learning contexts and experiences that could potentially contribute to the elements of compass. We present this as dialogue produced through asynchronous online conversations between the paper's two authors across a three-month period in 2020 – a method befitting our COVID-19 times.

Findings

After employing a deductive thematic analysis we found extensive links between health education learning and aspects of the compass which are congruent with the notion that it is more about how the subject is taught than what is covered in a socio-critical health education. We communicate our findings by organising them into three themes that arose for us in analysis: learners' capability to understand the world, navigate the world and change the world.

Originality/value

We conclude the paper with key questions to consider if we are to reimagine school-based health education in order for learning experiences in the subject to enrich learners' understanding of how to navigate the complex and uncertain times they will face across their lives.

Details

Health Education, vol. 122 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-4283

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 May 2021

Vaughan Cruickshank and Casey Mainsbridge

The forced shift to online teaching delivery during COVID-19 suppression measures in 2020 was a complex challenge for Australian teachers. Teachers were given very little time to…

Abstract

Purpose

The forced shift to online teaching delivery during COVID-19 suppression measures in 2020 was a complex challenge for Australian teachers. Teachers were given very little time to prepare online content and very little professional development to teach online. Their experiences prompted discussion about the abilities of pre-service teachers (PST) to adapt content to online delivery if another pandemic occurred while they were teaching in the future.

Design/methodology/approach

PST majoring in Health and Physical Education were required to adapt a 4-weeks high school health education unit for online delivery. This study analysed data from PST personal reflections and focus groups to gain a better understanding of their perceptions about teaching health education online and their confidence to adapt tasks and activities from face-to-face delivery or develop unique online tasks.

Findings

PST reported varied confidence and competence to plan for and engage in online health education teaching. PST were concerned about student learning and engagement online, and unsure how to best differentiate activities to ensure all student could meet the intended outcomes.

Originality/value

Little is known about the confidence and competence of PST to deliver fully online school health education. It is important to know more about this phenomenon to inform teacher education and teacher professional development to ensure teachers are better prepared for online delivery in the future.

Details

Health Education, vol. 122 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-4283

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 December 2021

Seyed Alireza Athari, Uju Violet Alola and Andrew Adewale Alola

In this study, as part of an attempt to foster sustainable development, the aim is directed at understanding the perspectives of domestic economic, financial and political risks…

Abstract

Purpose

In this study, as part of an attempt to foster sustainable development, the aim is directed at understanding the perspectives of domestic economic, financial and political risks in tourism development. On the other hand, the role of other agents of sustainable development: innovation, infrastructure, health and primary education and global crisis in tourism development, was illustrated.

Design/methodology/approach

To achieve this objective, the current study explored the (system) SYS-Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) technique for a panel of selected 73 economies over the period 2006–2017. This GMM approached is not undertaken without first establishing the stationarity (a preliminary test) of the employed dataset by utilizing the relevant unit root techniques.

Findings

First, the study found that minimizing risks from economic, financial and political aspects is significant and vital to the attractiveness of the tourism destinations and the eventual development of the tourism sector. Second, the study presents innovation or technological readiness and health and primary education as agents of sustainable development through the growth of international tourism arrivals while global crisis is significantly detrimental to tourism inflow.

Originality/value

Overall, the study presents the contribution of tourism as a pathway to sustainable development from unique dimensions. Investigating a large panel (of 73 countries) is a unique approach. In addition, considering the economic vulnerability of the panel countries from the aspects of risk arising from economic, financial and political aspects is another interesting dimension to the novelty of the study. Thus, this study offers relevant policies for tourism stakeholders.

Details

International Journal of Emerging Markets, vol. 18 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-8809

Keywords

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