Understanding Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education in Secondary Schools

Dr Jenny McWhirter is a freelance researcher and author who has been interested in the health and well being of children and young people since working as a part time youth worker in the 1980s.  She has been researching effective approaches to PSHE education for more than 25 years.  At Southampton University she managed an MSc in Health Education with Health Promotion and developed a special study in PSHE and Citizenship for the secondary PGCE programme.  Her research includes many aspects of PSHE education, including personal finance, asthma and drug education.  After leaving academia in 2003, Jenny worked for DrugScope and, later RoSPA, as an education advisor. Jenny has been chair of the Drug Education Forum and the Drug Education Practitioners’ Forum.  She was a member of the NICE Programme Development Group ‘Strategies to prevent unintentional injuries among the under 15s’. Jenny’s current research includes effective responses to drug and alcohol hidden harm.  Starting his career as an art and mathematics teacher working in both primary and secondary schools in north London, Nick Boddington joined the Advisory Service where he specialised in the teaching of sensitive issues including SRE, HIV, bullying and drug education.  One of the first Ofsted Inspectors to be trained, he left the Advisory Service as Lead Senior Adviser for Children’s Wellbeing for Essex to take up his current position as Subject Lead with the national PSHE Association. Nick is committed to a model of PSHE that places children’s individual and unique understanding of their world and their own enquiry at the centre of learning. He is co-author of a number of Government documents, academic texts and teaching resources committed to improving the quality of PSHE education. He has spent over 25 years championing the importance of placing high quality PSHE at the centre of the school curriculum.

Understanding PSHE Education in Secondary Schools is an accessible read for all educators concerned with promoting and delivering high quality PSHE education. It provides a theoretical underpinning to the subject, as well as practical ideas and case-studies.  It is invaluable in its guidance for the PSHE subject leader on how s/he might organise the curriculum content, model of delivery and activities, what works well and what to avoid. It focuses on developing skills and attitudes, as well as knowledge, to ensure that young people are equipped for life beyond school and into the future. The approach is positive and inclusive, clearly steering the reader away from shock tactics and didactic messages in favour of empowerment and pro-choice teaching.  Throughout the book there are opportunities for the reader to reflect on one′s personal values and experiences and activities to support the refining of one′s own teaching of PSHE education. The most challenging and sensitive subjects within PSHE are considered candidly and honestly with clear application opportunities in real-life situations, thus supporting the educator to be prepared and confident in his/her teaching. The context is very much up-to-date and relevant to the teaching of young people in an ever-changing world.

• IntroductionPart 1Understanding adolescent developmentTheory, evidence and practical approaches to effective teaching and learning in PSHE educationThe organisation of PSHE education in the curriculumStarting ′where young people are′: planning learning in PSHE educationAssessment learning in PSHE educationPart 2Understanding risk during adolescenceUnderstanding the role of PSHE in promoting mental health and emotional wellbeingUnderstanding drug education within PSHE educationUnderstanding relationships and sex education (RSE) within PSHE educationEconomic wellbeing and PSHE educationPart 3PSHE education and school policy mattersUnderstanding the relationship between PSHE education, pastoral care and therapeutic interventionsSelecting PSHE education teaching material and resources and the effective use of visitors to the classroomPart 4Appendix 1: Using story, ‘case studies’ and timeline in PSHE educationAppendix 2: Summary of organisational models for the teaching of PSHE educationAppendix 3: Baseline assessment toolsAppendix 4: Key data on adolescence in 2015