This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
Listen
Health Promoting Schools to be created
24/05/2002
The creation of a new expert Unit to champion the establishment of health promoting schools (HPSs) throughout Scotland to improve the health of children and young people, was announced today.
The new HPSs - a commitment in the Scottish Health Plan - will be led by Margaret McGhie, a former teacher who has considerable experience in the field of health education, from a base in Dundee.
The Unit, created in partnership with the Health Education Board for Scotland, Learning and Teaching Scotland, and COSLA, is intended:
- provide leadership and support to local authorities, schools, development advisers and NHS Boards, in the creation of health promoting schools throughout Scotland
- provide guidance on measuring the impact and effectiveness of HPSs
- work with partner organisations to ensure the Unit's work complements that of existing initiatives, for example the National Priorities for Education, Education for Citizenship, New Community Schools, HEBS programmes and Starting Well
Deputy Health Minister, Mary Mulligan said:
"Schools - and local family healthcare services - have an important part to play in helping to prevent many of the diseases which have blighted the lives of older generations of Scots, including heart disease, cancer and stroke, as well as type II diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity. Young people spend more time at school than on any single activity. It therefore makes sense to ensure that we take every opportunity to use those hours to help them make healthy choices for the lives they lead - particularly as we also know that children's educational attainment is linked to their health.
"The creation of the Health Promoting Schools Unit will help drive forward our efforts to ensure every child in Scotland has the best possible start in life and fulfils a key commitment of the Scottish Health Plan.
"The Unit will work with local authorities, NHS Boards and voluntary organisations to spread the Health Promoting Schools concept to all areas of Scotland. It will seek to further improve lifestyle education in schools, raise children's awareness of issues which could affect their future health, and encourage them to make informed choices for themselves on key areas such as diet and physical activity."
Deputy Education Minister Nicol Stephen said:
"Many schools throughout Scotland have already introduced the Health Promoting Schools concept. We now want every school to work towards this standard to give our young people the best possible start in life. The Unit through its new director will now bring new momentum to this work. The Unit will play a key role in spreading HPSs throughout the rest of Scotland.
"By inviting Learning and Teaching Scotland to locate the Unit in its offices in Dundee, we aim to ensure that HPSs become a central part of the education system.
"Schools should be at the heart of a child's health education - as well as their academic education. The aim is to develop a school system that will help to develop young adults with healthy bodies, as well as healthy minds."
Professor Tom Wilson, Chair of Learning and Teaching Scotland, said:
"Learning and Teaching Scotland is very pleased to be hosting the new Unit. It will consolidate and enhance our existing close connections with the HEBS and COSLA. Working together, we will support the new Unit in its key national role of supporting the implementation of the 'health-promoting school' concept throughout Scotland.
"The health and well-being of Scotland's young people is important to us all. Their school experiences should help them to do well not only in terms of attainment and achievement, but also in making wise and healthy choices about their own lives and the society in which they play a part. Schools do make a difference and much is already underway in schools in the area of health promotion. The new Unit will support and build on this existing good practice.
" Learning and Teaching Scotland looks forward to working with a range of partners in the education and health fields in this most important enterprise - promoting the health of Scotland's children."
HEBS Chair Lesley Hinds said:
" HEBS has had a long-term commitment to the HPSs movement and this new unit will play an important part in furthering the partnership between the education and health sectors.
"While the learning and teaching that takes place in the classroom relating to health is vital to young people, the entire school experience needs to complement the classroom approach. For example, the relationships between pupils and teachers, the food provided in schools or policies relating to safe and active routes to schools. HPSs aim to promote the health of young people and indeed all those who are a part of school communities."
Councillor Ronnie McColl, COSLA's Social Services and Health Improvement spokesperson, said:
" COSLA fully supports the HPS concept and the launch of the Unit today signifies a move towards implementation rather than further research. In other words action rather than more words.
"This is not yet another new initiative that will place demands on teachers and schools. Some schools already contribute significantly to this agenda and COSLA is confident that the unit will help develop and support the good work that is already taking place."
All schools are required to provide health education. Within HPSs, health education is integral to the curriculum, school ethos, policies, services, extra-curricular activities and partnerships to foster mental, physical and social well-being and healthy development.
HMI undertook a study of health promotion in schools. Health Promotion - Issues for Councils and Schools 1999 was published in November 1999. HMI also published A Route to Health Promotion - Self Evaluation Using Performance Indicators. 1999 designed to help schools strengthen their approach to promoting the health of their pupils.
HPSs are the latest in a range of initiatives currently underway to improve the health and well-being of children and young people.
For example:
- a £5.5m investment over three years to boost training for up to 200 schools nurses and health visitors in Scotland, to better prepare them to take on new roles in improving health
- developing a framework for nursing in schools that will build upon the ethos of New Community Schools
- creation and extension of breakfast clubs in schools and provision of fresh fruit, healthy tuck-shops and salad bars, as part of the Executive's £100m Health
- the New Community Schools initiative
Margaret McGhie was brought up in Galloway. She attended Kirkcudbright Academy and studied Modern Languages at the University of Glasgow. Before joining the Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum (now Learning and Teaching Scotland) in 1991 she had gained considerable teaching experience in Scottish schools. Particular professional concerns were the development of reflective practices in young learners, the introduction of co-operative learning strategies, and collaborative working with the Support for Learning Department.
In recent years, Margaret has been involved in a series of policy initiatives in Scotland, covering among other things, health education, education for personal and social development and the place of modern languages in the Scottish curriculum. Other important areas of her remit have concerned the development of inclusive and sustainable schools. She has a keen interest in the ethical dimension of education, in discernment as a dimension of assessment, in the development of emotional literacy in young people and in collaborative learning.
The common denominator in much of her work has concerned strategies for encouraging schools and teachers to see their role in helping young people to do well, become skilled, well informed and aware of the importance of learning. And to develop dispositions such as fairness, consideration, caring and respect for self and others, as well as the ability to make healthy and life-enhancing choices about their lives.