 
Week 2 - Healthy School Communities
|  | Where Does the School's Responsibility End? |
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Listing of Papers | |
MS HELEN CANT
ACT, Australia
THERE ARE TWO DISTINCT 'schools' of thought on the degree of involvement and ability of schools to effectively establish and maintain safe and supportive school environments. Contemporary society is perceived to be in decline, in crisis and out-of-control. Who is responsible? Where does parenting end and teaching and learning begin?
Of growing concern to principals and school boards/councils is the increasing pressure being placed on teachers and schools to perform more and more functions, due to the escalation of a range of social and welfare issues impacting negatively on students. Where society is having difficulty with young people and drugs, broken relationships in the home, unemployment, violence and racism, a large part of the answer is seen to lie with the schools, teachers and the curriculum. Many teachers and schools feel besieged because there seems to be no end to the plethora of pressures and the barrage of changes which governments and bureaucrats are requiring. Society and the media are also adept at passing to schools the blame for social ills.
Fragmented Value System
In addition, traditional systems of values have fragmented. Individuals now treat the traditional structures of what is considered to be 'right and wrong', such as the Ten Commandments, like a smorgasbord, to 'pick and choose' and/or invent their own value system. This challenge to ethics is subversive and many ask, 'why act in a moral way?'
Many believe the limits to the responsibilities of schools for the social well being of students and the wider community are unclear and the subject for considerable debate. Educational research carried out over a period of more than thirty years has shown consistently that teachers' preparedness to adopt change depends on two factors. The first is whether their concerns about the changes asked of them in teaching and learning are addressed. The second is the impact they believe the change will have on children (Hall, Loucks, Rutherford & Newlove, 1975; Loucks & Hall, 1977).
To radically change teaching practice to promote health requires teachers to learn many new and unfamiliar techniques, in addition to developing professional expertise and learning to work in a more collegial way. The process requires extensive professional development. Where does this fit, and where should this fit, in relation to the increasing pressures on teachers to improve literacy, numeracy, IT competencies, teach science more effectively, and to introduce enterprise education?
It has been demonstrated that successful schools, producing successful students, distinguish what is really important to their school's organisation and to the personal lives of the members of their communities. With a perceived decline in social standards within society and school communities, being clear about what is important to schools is essential to living in a way that does not just skim the surface of life. In creating a success-orientated environment, with access to education in a safe and caring learning environment, what a school values is automatically established.
Studies done by the Institute of Education, at the University of London, show that successful schools for successful students have developed cultural norms in which:
- goals are shared: 'we know where we are going';
- responsibility is taken for success: 'we must succeed';
- there is collegiality: 'we're in this together';
- there is continuous improvement: 'we can get better';
- 'learning is lifelong: 'learning is for everyone';
- there is risk taking: 'we learn by trying something new';
- support is provided: 'there's always someone there to help';
- there is mutual respect: 'everyone has something to offer';
- there is openness: 'we can discuss our differences'; and,
- they celebrate with humour: 'we feel good about ourselves'.
Is this not enough? It could be said that the last thing any school needs is to have anything else governments, the system, the community and the media thinks schools should be doing!
Health Promoting Schools
On the other hand, the health-promoting school concept has rapidly gained credibility over the last decade and now provides a widely accepted paradigm for the development of schools into social institutions, which actively promote the health of students and staff.
A central feature of successful health promoting schools, both in Australian and Europe, is that all health-related activities are integrated and co-ordinated. Findings from the health promoting schools show:
- a greater focus on enhancing their physical environment;
- an improved professional development for teachers;
- an increased use by the local community of school facilities;
- a greater participation by students in the creation of school policy;
- a greater participation by students in community issues; and,
- a greater involvement of local people in school programs.
It is known with reasonable certainty from studies in the last ten to fifteen years that the effect of multi-faceted interventions on specific health issues, such as smoking, is superior to a single strategy initiative. Although it can be confidently concluded that health, social and welfare issues are addressed most effectively at the school level through integrated approaches, it is by no means clear how much extra benefit is obtained by addressing a number of issues.
Health promoting schools effectively involve their communities in establishing and maintaining safe and supportive school environments through three key domains. They are the formal curriculum (including classroom activities and health education); school ethos (including the physical and social environments and the policies and practices of the school); and the school-home-community interaction (including school health services). As stated previously these domains of activity are as thoroughly integrated as possible.
Ongoing Evaluation Vital
However, regardless of how well-developed and co-ordinated is a school community's approach to addressing the health, social and welfare issues, maintaining successful outcomes is dependent on effective, ongoing monitoring and evaluation of approaches and programs.
While there are valid instruments to measure the effectiveness of practice in the key domains of the formal curriculum and the school ethos, there is an absence of reliable and valid instruments to measure the quality of the school-home-community interaction. The attitudes towards health and the health- related behaviours of parents are among the most powerful influences over the health and the health behaviours of young people. Students spend about 17% of their annual time in school and about 83% elsewhere. As crucial a role as the school plays, it is the other aspects of their life that consume the majority of their time. Schools need to connect to the 'other' life and help parents connect to their children.
It is commonly acknowledged that the amount of 'meaningful dialogue' that occurs between parents and children on a daily basis, while critical to the success of establishing values, is woefully inadequate. It has been estimated that, on average, the amount of meaningful dialogue that takes place each day between parent and child approximates 36 seconds - half a minute. All schools without exception will tell you that asking busy and, for many reasons, 'unavailable' parents to increase their participation in the school, is exceedingly difficult and challenging. If we can't get parents into the school, how might we get aspects of the school, such as health, social and welfare issues to the parents? There are schools nationally and internationally trying to address this issue with a variety of programs, such as 'Home Connections' and 'School Watch'. 'Home Connections' looks at using homework for families. It is a strategy that provides well-designed weekly questions for the family to discuss. The questions are meaningful or important to students and clearly connect their learning to real life situations. 'School Watch' has been developed to involve families in the use, care and protection of their school outside of school hours.
Involving the Wider Community
The wider community can be effectively involved in integrated approaches and programs. There are many government and non-government agencies and professional and community organisations which are able to provide assistance and support to schools in the form of teaching resources, health promotion programs, participation in classroom activities and material and financial assistance. Schools are also able to take this one step further by working with these agencies to develop 'Whole Service Schools' as community centres. This has been done most successfully by a number of schools, nationally and internationally.
Establishing healthy school communities is a complex issue. Is it desirable and/or possible for schools to effectively address health, social and welfare issues? Or indeed is it their responsibility? Many would argue that this is not the role of schools. Is it reasonable and fair to expect those who are employed to manage and teach in schools to address these issues? Is this not the responsibility of parents? School staffs are personally grappling with the same issues themselves on a day-to-day basis. Where does their support come from? Does it come from the school in which they work, from other schools or from the community in general?
Then again, it has been clearly demonstrated by health promoting schools that school communities with an integrated approach can very effectively involve their communities in establishing and maintaining approaches and programs that effectively address these social issues. What is not clear is how effective are the other educational programs in these schools. Then again, successful schools for successful students with humanitarian and supportive school environments can clearly impact positively on all aspects of school life. Where do you sit in this debate?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Helen Cant is currently the principal of Giralang Primary School, which is located in a northern Canberra suburb of the ACT. Currently she is President of the ACT Primary Principals' Association, having held executive positions in the Association for a number of years.
She has taught students ranging in age from three to sixty-three years. Helen has taught in all sectors, preschool, primary and secondary and in a variety of settings, including special education. Her educational interests are many and varied but in recent years she has honed her knowledge and skills in information technology, information literacy, literacy and innovative models of schooling, particularly for the middle years.
Helen hopes that you enjoy the first APAPDC national online conference!
Contact Helen Cant by email at:
helen.cant@giralangps.act.edu.au
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