Professional Documents
Culture Documents
learning from pilot schools is gathered, to feed and Emotional Health initiative have
into a national dissemination strategy, and produced both manuals and associated
this should be a planned ultimate objective of teacher education programmes (Weare and
the programme. These criteria were agreed at Gray, 1995). Furthermore, pilot projects at
international level at the very start of the national level and in schools have generated a
process and have been developed further and vast body of experience that has formed the
refined at both national and local level basis for the second phase of the ENHPS.
according to the needs of countries and Through all such initiatives, both health and
schools. education policy and practice has
From a strategic point of view, the initiative demonstrably been influenced throughout
has been an impressive success. As one of the Europe (Parsons et al., 1997).
largest international networks of its kind, it is
a unique example of collaboration between
three European organisations, within The ENHPS development plan
countries between the Ministry of Health and
Ministry of Education and local level Following the official agreement of the
partnerships between schools and local European Commission, the Council of
communities. The network is gaining in Europe and WHO Regional Office for Europe
prestige as it becomes more understood by to jointly launch and support the European
those outside the programme. Network of Health Promoting Schools in
1992, among the significant landmarks we
particularly note the following.
Resources for the ENHPS The ENHPS Development Plan 1996-2000
(WHO, 1997a). The plan, drawn up though a
The first phase of the ENHPS project focused collaborative process involving the
on developing activities suited to the needs international organisations, the Technical
and circumstances of each participating Secretariat and the ENHPS national
school, and sharing the results with others. co-ordinators, provided direction for the
The networks in countries comprised a second phase of the project. Its goals were the
number of pilot schools which were guided by fostering of an increased degree of
the national teams and international commitment to the concepts and principles of
developments in the development of their the health-promoting school among the key
health-promoting school initiatives. partners (schools, communities, health and
In addition, the Technical Secretariat set education sectors, governments and others)
about preparing a range of resources to assist and to influence key policy and decision
these developments. Purposely, the Technical makers. The major focus of the development
Secretariat has not developed classroom or plan was the implementation and
curriculum resources, rather a number of dissemination of the concept as well as
co-ordinator and teacher-training manuals research and evaluation. Based on the
have been commissioned and in some cases experience drawn from the first phase of the
collaboration has been developed between ENHPS process, a range of activity areas were
other agencies and co-publications have been identified to be of key importance. They
produced as a result. included the involvement and commitment of
Publications have included a resource all agencies involved through co-ordination
manual for co-ordinators (WHO, CEC, and and networking, the need to make the
CE, 1993), manuals for both elementary and transition from pilot to policy, the importance
secondary schools in the development of their of training, and the mobilisation of
early steps in the creation of health-promoting resources.
school initiatives (Metcalfe et al., 1995;
International Planning Committee of the
European Network of Health Promoting Thessaloniki: the first ENHPS
Schools, 1995) and a manual which provides conference
guidance on how to evaluate health-
promoting school activities (Piette, 1995). A highly significant step for the ENHPS was
Some projects, such as the ENHPS Mental the first conference of the European Network
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Vivian Barnekow Rasmussen and David Rivett Volume 100 . Number 2 . 2000 . 6167
of Health Promoting Schools: ``The health curriculum and of teacher education, and the
promoting school an investment in measurement of success.
education, health and democracy'', held in Health-promoting schools clearly
Thessaloniki, Greece, in May 1997. contribute significantly to the social and
Participants from 43 countries attended, economic development of society at large.
including policy-makers and The approach must not be prescriptive; while
parliamentarians, parents, teachers and other all schools need to act on a set of the core
experts in education, health professionals, values and principles noted above, the work of
representatives of international bodies and, of each must reflect local cultural, organisational
course, young people themselves. The and political considerations. Schools should
participants, many for whom the notion of the be viewed as a resource for the wider
health-promoting school was relatively new, community; for example, their facilities
met to gain a deeper understanding of the should be available for use outside normal
progress of the network, to share their school hours. Schools should act as a catalyst
experience, assess their achievements and in bringing together a wide range of
discuss the most effective means of organisations in a co-ordinated approach to
influencing education policy and practice community health.
throughout Europe. The success of ENHPS across Europe
The conference used a variety of methods warrants further implementation, and there is
to encourage the broadest and most a continuing need for further development to
productive participation. Case studies from be evidence based. The conference, therefore,
across Europe were a key mechanism for called on the governments of all countries in
generating and actively involving all the the European region to create the conditions
participants in discussion (ENHPS Technical for the adoption of the concept of the health-
Secretariat, 1997). The case studies covered a promoting school. The resolution asserted
diverse range of issues, including: that every child should now have the right to
. Teacher training and curriculum benefit form the health-promoting school
development. initiative. It invited the European Union, the
. Using the school as a setting for health Council of Europe and the WHO Regional
promotion. Office for Europe to continue their support
. Collaboration with parents and the for the network.
community.
. School policy development.
. Pupils as active partners.
. Evaluation. Some further landmark events for the
. International co-operation. ENHPS
. Democracy, management and
The strategic focus of the network has been to
organisational change.
develop a strong and sustainable network. To
The work of the conference led the assist in this process, a series of landmark
participants to draw conclusions and make events have taken place within the overall
recommendations, which were recorded in ENHPS development plan. As a brief
the conference report, and which continue to introduction to these events, a selection have
be placed in front of policy and decision been chosen and are outlined below.
makers (WHO, 1997b). We will summarise
them briefly below.
The conference agreed that certain key The EVA 1 and EVA 2 evaluations of the
ENHPS
principles need to underpin the health-
promoting school movement, they are: Both evaluations, funded by the European
democracy, equity, sustainability, Commission and supervised by the Technical
collaboration and empowerment, while Secretariat, have provided vital data about
certain action areas are key, namely the the implementation and eventual outcomes of
development of action competence, a the network. The evaluations have been fed
supportive school environment, links with the into the workplans of the Technical
community, the development of the Secretariat.
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Vivian Barnekow Rasmussen and David Rivett Volume 100 . Number 2 . 2000 . 6167
services have been developed by the implemented, new tools and services are
Technical Secretariat to increase the developed and greater understandings of the
knowledge and understanding about processes of health promoting schools
comprehensive evaluation. These have gathered. This has meant that, for the
included guidance on indicators for the Technical Secretariat new challenges are
health-promoting school, an appraisal service being presented. Gathering, collating and
for countries to position the health-promoting disseminating the learning will continue to be
school approach more strategically and the a major task, for positioning evidence for
EVA2 country assessment tool. Additionally, decision makers to use in the most effective
the Technical Secretariat acts as the ways is a time-consuming process. In
co-ordinating centre for the Health Behaviour addition, although 40 countries are currently
of School-Aged Children Survey (HBSC), a participating in the initiative, many others are
cross-national study of pupils which now still eligible. Over the coming years, work will
involves more than 20 European countries. be concentrated on expanding the
The study is unique in many ways as an programme, where it is requested, to include
example of international collaboration. It has these other countries. At the same time, some
set a standard in research methodology, countries have now moved on from
involving pan-European gathering of supporting pilot networks of schools and are
information; and a comparison of data, while developing work in further directions, some
serving as a practical tool for education and through the creation of national strategies and
health policy making. A major effort will be policy for health-promoting schools.
made to enrol more countries in the survey The ENHPS has achieved considerable
over the coming years. success in establishing the notion of a
comprehensive design to health in schools
Dissemination and implementation through a health promotion approach. The
Several countries are now at a stage where the network has provided a platform for the
pilot phase is moving into a dissemination development of an international consensus on
phase. This is a critical point in time for the health-promoting schools in Europe. As the
initiative and before embarking on strategic network has become more widely recognised,
development, a long-term programme of greater attention is being focused on its
activities and goals. This is a powerful
development and implementation needs to be
development for the ENHPS which never set
undertaken.
out to be made up of a number of small
networks of schools. The need to spread and
Democracy
expand the knowledge gained is essential for
Equity and democracy are important
the process to be sustained. This is the goal
elements of the health-promoting school. The
for the ENHPS in the future.
role of the ENHPS in the democratisation
and transformation process in eastern and
central Europe has been remarked on is some
national development reports. In western
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