Louise McCuaig – författare

Schooling has long been held responsible for the health and well-being of children. However, against an international background of rising concern about students’ performance and well-being, schools and teachers have faced escalating expectations of their health-related work. While various stakeholders have ideas about what teachers’ health work entails, we know little about teachers’ contributions, engagement and personal satisfaction with this work. As teachers’ work represents a significant national investment, insight into the cost–benefit of teachers’ health work is vital to establishing the broader economic contribution of schools to society.

Teachers as Health Workers offers a critical perspective on these matters, documenting the day-to-day work of Australian teachers as they grapple with the challenges, and joys, of balancing education and health-related responsibilities. Whilst shifts in policy, economics and globalisation influence localised enactment of teachers’ health work, the economic modelling, theorising and methodological innovations of this research address enduring themes and challenges. Consequently, this book’s critical perspective reveals policy-practice gaps in government strategies seeking to create a healthy and productive population.

The book will inform education, health and industrial policies and provide direction for teachers’ initial or ongoing preparation as health workers.

Schooling has long been held responsible for the health and well-being of children. However, against an international background of rising concern about students’ performance and well-being, schools and teachers have faced escalating expectations of their health-related work. While various stakeholders have ideas about what teachers’ health work entails, we know little about teachers’ contributions, engagement and personal satisfaction with this work. As teachers’ work represents a significant national investment, insight into the cost–benefit of teachers’ health work is vital to establishing the broader economic contribution of schools to society.

Teachers as Health Workers offers a critical perspective on these matters, documenting the day-to-day work of Australian teachers as they grapple with the challenges, and joys, of balancing education and health-related responsibilities. Whilst shifts in policy, economics and globalisation influence localised enactment of teachers’ health work, the economic modelling, theorising and methodological innovations of this research address enduring themes and challenges. Consequently, this book’s critical perspective reveals policy-practice gaps in government strategies seeking to create a healthy and productive population.

The book will inform education, health and industrial policies and provide direction for teachers’ initial or ongoing preparation as health workers.

This book explores the complex nexus of discourses, principles and practices within which educators mobilise school-based health education. Through an interrogation of the ideas informing particular models and approaches to health education, the authors provide critical insights into the principles and practices underpinning approaches to health education policy, curriculum, pedagogy and assessment.

Drawing on extensive literature and research, the book explores and considers what health education can and should do. Chapters examine the extent to which health education, past and present, has attended to the needs and interests of young people in school environments, as well as assess common pedagogical approaches and whether the outcomes tally with expectations. By considering the problems in teaching health education, curriculum making, health education pedagogies and porous classrooms, the book offers a knowledge base from which educators can consider how theories and models can sit together to shape curriculum and influence practice.

School Health Education in Changing Times will be of key interest to postgraduate students, researchers and academics in the field of health education. It will also be a valuable resource for teacher educators, current teachers, and those on professional development courses who want to navigate the moral minefield surrounding health education.