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Section 7 The Health-Promoting School Health promotion in schools: some background There is considerable evidence that life expectations play a major part in young people's future health behaviours. If young people feel that school is a good place to be this can be a powerful force in their lives as great as any formal classroom experiences. The provision of a clean, safe and healthy environment in the school provides a physical context for health education in the classroom. This extends from the school playground to the dining area to the classrooms. However, the school environment also requires to be a stimulating one. This will be reflected in, for example, the displays of pupils' work on classroom walls and in the creation of playground games to encourage activity and creativity. Health promotion in schools can be considered as a combination of the curricular contribution of health education and all the other actions that a school takes to protect and improve the health of all those within it. In 1986 the World Health Organisation (WHO) coined the term 'the health-promoting school' to describe all the positive actions schools could take to influence the health of all school users. This includes the pupils, teachers, support staff and visitors to the school. The World Health Organisation, in a 1997 restatement of its commitment to health-promoting schools, stated that every child in Europe should now have the right to benefit from the health-promoting school initiative. Traditionally, health education concentrated on the individual attempting to change behaviour or attitudes, or both, irrespective of the many influences stemming from the social, physical and political environments. The health-promoting school concept recognised the necessity of setting the individual in a wider social and environmental context in order to take account of the many influences that can affect health. Schools provide one of the key settings where health can be actively promoted. [RETURN TO 5-14 ONLINE] [BACK] [INDEX] [NEXT]