School Leaders’ Knowledge, Responsibilities and Practices regarding Health Promotion in Schools and Communities

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Health promotion in schools has generally gained increased attention among researchers over the last decade in order to develop a safe learning environment for students and school staff (e.g. Leahy & Simovska, 2017). As the Covid-19 pandemic posed challenges for schools and education systems worldwide, this topic has gained increased attention. Schools were closed across 107 countries in response to first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (Viner et al., 2020). The experiences during the pandemic as well as after highlight the need for national and local authorities, school principals and community actors to collaborate to promote health, not least because schools are at the heart of local communities, and health promotion in schools as well as enhanced health literacy can impact positively on the whole community. This is in line with the framework, Health Promoting Schools (HPS) which was developed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2006 which (a) incorporates a formal health curriculum; (b) takes account of school ethos and environment; and (c) fosters engagement with families and communities (WHO, 2006). As well as promoting good physical health practices (including measures to control Covid-19), health promotion in schools should also address social and emotional health (ibid.). This broader focus is especially important in the context of dealing with post-pandemic challenges due to school closure. As such, the symposium will address Sub-theme 2 on how education systems and schools can be a catalyst of change but also focus on challenges regarding coordination in a multi-level school system.

To date, most of the existing studies of approaches to health promotion have been conducted in English-speaking countries. Several of them have demonstrated that health promotion initiatives are more effective when they extend beyond individual behaviours to encompass the entire organization and, ideally, relevant external stakeholders (Dix et al., 2012). Studies have also shown that principals play a significant role in determining whether a school will become a healthy organization and remain so (Rowling & Samdal, 2011). In all phases of the process of school health development, principals are responsible for building and maintaining motivation (e.g. through vision building), supporting school staff in developing the skills needed for successful change, coordinating processes and activities, and encouraging staff to maintain new practices and activities. To be able to take this responsibility, they first need to establish a healthy work environment and stress coping strategies for themselves (Dadaczynski & Paulus, 2015). There is also evidence that principals play a key role in primary prevention of disease and injury (before occurrence) and in secondary prevention (to reduce the impact of disease or injury that has already occurred) (Lee et al., 2003). In countries that have implemented approaches that build on the HPS framework (e.g. Canada), studies have found positive effects and have contributed with knowledge about contextual factors on various levels (authorities, community and schools) influencing the implementation process (McIsaac et al., 2015).

There is a need for more extensive international research and increased exchange between scholars in different country contexts conducting research in this area. This need is all the more acute against the backdrop of a global health crisis such as COVID-19, as schools must take the lead in promoting healthy physical, social, and emotional habits among their students, staff, and the local community. This symposium includes papers focusing on synthesizing previous research and reporting on ongoing empirical work on the area of school leaders’ health and health promotion approaches and development of health literacy in schools and communities. The empirical work reported present four different country perspectives, namely: Germany, Malaysia, Sweden, and Switzerland. The countries differ according to experience and systems regarding health promotion and health literacy. In addition to content-oriented learning from the various approaches, the symposium will address several inherent tensions in the field of health promotion in schools and communities. On the one hand, global policies set general guidelines for nation states, on the other hand, federal, state and local policies, programmes and initiatives are limited by available resources, which are often disproportionate to local needs. In many decentralised systems, NGOs are actively involved but lack the necessary mandates in a crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic. In other words, health promotion and health literacy represent contextual phenomena that are embedded in the governance of public and private sectors. The symposium will address challenges regarding comparisons across countries whilst considering contextual features as well multidisciplinary approaches that are required to study these phenomena. The presenters have their background in public/educational governance and leadership and public health. The presentations and the comments from the discussants will facilitate engaging discussions that are highly relevant for a wider scientific audience.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• Simona Betschart, Schwyz University of Teacher Education

Individual Presentations

• School Health Promotion – A Comparative Study of School Leaders’ Approaches in Malaysia and Switzerland - Simona Betschart, Schwyz University of Teacher Education

• Leading for Knowledge, Health and Wellbeing through the Coordination of Local Curriculum Processes - Pia Skott, Stockholm University

Discussant

• Ellen Goldring, Peabody College (Vanderbilt University)