barriers to the teaching of health education in

25 November 2004 B.OOgarah-Pratap - MIE 1

Barriers to the teaching of Health Education in the

new primary school curriculum

byB.Oogarah-Pratap (Mrs)

School of Applied SciencesMauritius Institute of Education


Health Education in the national primary school curriculum

Health Education introduced as a discrete subject in 2002.

AIM: To promote knowledge about health as well as skills, attitudes and behaviours that will contribute to the physical, mental and social well being of the child.



Weekly time allocation – 25 minutes.

Lessons contained in a teacher’s handbook, favouring active learning and teaching strategies.

Taught by General Purpose (GP) teachers.Also responsible for teaching examinable subjects such as Mathematics, French, English, and Environmental Studies/Science/History and Geography.



Focus on healthy eating, personal hygiene, drug abuse, safety, NCDs, AIDS and changes during puberty.

Prior to 2002, health concepts addressed to a limited extent in Environmental Studies, and taught mainly through a didactic approach.


Aims of the study

To examine the extent to which Health Education was being implemented in primary schools.

To determine barriers to the teaching of Health Education in primary schools.


Methodology

Convenience sample.

80 GP primary school teachers (males + females) representing all the four educational zones in Mauritius.

Use of a self-administered questionnaire, followed by a semi-structured interview.


Teachers’ ProfileAge range: 22 – 45No. of years teaching: 1-22 years22 males (27.5 %) and 58 females (72.5%).70% teaching lower standards (I to III).30% teaching upper standards (IV to VI).82.5% perceived themselves as role model to promote healthy habits among school children.


Teachers’ profile

Educational Zone Percentage (%)

1 26.6

2 27.8

3 21.5

4 24.0


Limitations of the Study

Relatively small sample size.

Use of non-probability sampling technique.

No critical analysis of the relevance and meaningfulness of the Health Education curriculum.


Findings and DiscussionAll teachers felt that Health Education is an important subject in the primary school curriculum.

It is more than very important to teach this subject in every school. Our pupils need a lot to learn in order to lead a sound life.Health Education is the most important subject and I think it should be taught as regularly as possible.Health Education is very important in primary schools. It will help the country to have a healthy population.Good health habits should be inculcated in children since an early age, and this can be made possible through Health Education in primary schools.


Findings and Discussion

Why Health Education important?

Helps to increase pupils’ health awareness, including awareness about healthy eating and personal hygiene (50%).

Assists in the prevention of non-communicable diseases in the long-run (46.2%).

Provides an effective means to educate parents (n = 4).



56.2% teaching Health Education at school.

60.7% of lower primary teachers vs. 45.8% of upper primary teachers.

Most common reasons for not teaching:It was in the school time-table, but no importance was given to it.Health Education was firstly not mentioned in the school time-table. Only Physical Education appeared on the school time-table.This subject is not well promoted in schools. Some teachers do not even bother to teach the subject.



‘Chalk and talk’ method most popular teaching strategy.Other reported teaching/learning strategies:

Role-play.Debates.Cooperative learningStory telling.

Teaching aids – teacher’s handbook, charts, pictures, posters, and realia.



Television and video set not operational in most schools.

Limited access to photocopying facilities at school to make copies of pupil’s worksheets included in the teacher’s handbook.


Barriers % rating barrier as

important/very important

Lack of resource materials to support teaching 92.1

Lack of training to teach health issues. 87.0

Teacher’s resistance to change didactic teaching approaches

84.5

Limited time allocated in school time table 74.3

Low priority given to the subject in my school 73.7

Crowded classes 72.7

Unsupportive school environment 72.0

No formal assessment for Health Education 50.0


Findings and Discussion95% of the teachers reported that they do not feel adequately trained to teach all the health topics included in the Health Education syllabus.

Areas of greatest concern are: hard drugs (60.9 %),

non-communicable diseases (54.3%),

puberty and body changes (52.2%) and

AIDS (52.2%).



A minimum of 50 hours of instruction per year is need to bring about positive behaviour changes (NCHE, n.d.).

In Mauritius, the yearly time allocation for Health Education is approximately 13 hours.

Low priority perceived as a more important barrier in upper standards.

86.4% of upper primary teachers vs. 68.4% of lower primary teachers.



Crowded classes lack of space for group work and difficulties in controlling noise level when using participatory approaches.

Unsupportive school environment – unhealthy foods at the school canteen, dirty toilets and school compound.



Other barriers revealed during interviews:

Lack of parental cooperation.

Poor understandability of some English terms.

Absence of a pupil’s workbook.

Pupil’s lack of interest because they do not feel threatened by poor health.


ConclusionPolicy makers have taken a positive step towards improving the health of children by introducing Health Education as a discrete subject in the national primary school curriculum.The inclusion of the subject in the formal curriculum by no means suffices to promote children’s health awareness, skills, attitudes and behaviours


RecommendationsShifting the responsibility of Health Education from General Purpose teacher to well trained specialist teachers.Designing and developing pupils’ workbook supported with appropriate teaching and learning resources.Increasing the weekly time allocation for Health Education from 25 minutes to 50 minutes.Linking the topics in Health Education to key concepts and skills addressed in the examinable subjects.


RecommendationsGetting parents and the school staff to realize that they will also benefit from Health Education.

Ensuring a supportive school environment.

Further studies:Researchers going out in the field and gather data through observation and from school children.

A critical analysis of the content of the Health Education curriculum.


Thank you for your attention.

barriers to the teaching of health education in

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