School Health Committees A Valuable Role for School

School Health Committees: A Valuable Role for School Councils “Ideas & Inspiration ’ 05” Ontario School Advocate Conference April 9, 2005 Carol Mac. Dougall, RN, BSc(N), MA

“The greatest advantage to having these health committees is that we work at changing the culture of the school and at making health an important issue that people value and think about!”

Focus of this Presentation Global “Healthy Schools” movement “School Health Committees” concept Important role of parents and school councils with school health committees

Why should schools care about health? Health and learning are linked Promoting the physical, mental, social and spiritual health of children and youth contributes to effective learning Creating healthy school environments is important: Students do better in caring and supportive schools that have high expectations and involve youth

Why does the health sector care about schools? Level of education attained impacts lifelong health and quality of life Students who do poorly in school are at increased risk for dropping out, being unemployed, and engaging in a wide range of unhealthy behaviours School connectedness protects students from a wide range of health risks Schools lay the foundation for future health behaviours

Background on the “Healthy Schools” Concept U. S. Comprehensive School Health Education: -12 Health and Physical Education Curriculum (early 1980’s) K U. S. Comprehensive School Health Program (late 1980’s) Curriculum Environment Services

Comprehensive School Health [Canadian Association for School Health-CASH, 1988 -1990 ] • A broad spectrum of programs, policies and activities • Involves many partners • Consensus statement on CSH is supported by 20 national organizations Curriculum Services Supportive Social Environment Healthy Physical Environment

Global “Healthy Schools” Movement Spearheaded by the World Health Organization www. who. int and search for “School Health” 41 European countries— “European Network of Health Promoting Schools” www. euro. who. int/eprise/main/WHO/Progs/ENHPS/Home UK www. wiredforhealth. gov. uk Australia www. hlth. qut. edu. au/ph/ahpsa/about US http: //www. cdc. gov/nccdphp/dash/index. htm Pan-Canadian Joint Consortium on School Health http: //www. csh-ems. ca/downloads/backgrounder_JCSH. pdf

Collaboration is Key Role of schools—more than knowledge transmission Can’t be done by education sector alone—requires partnerships School health committees—students, parents, teachers/staff, principals/vice-principals, public health and other relevant community partners School health committees may be a sub-committee of an existing committee (e. g. , school council, safe school committee, student council) or a newly-formed group

Study Participants Four PHNs and one health promoter from three southern Ontario health units Combined experience: 35 school health committees— 18 elementary, 17 secondary 24 of the committees in existence 3 -13 years All study participants had experience working in schools both with and without school health committees

How School Health Committees Work Commit to shared vision of a healthy school Conduct “strengths and needs” assessment Prioritize Plan action Implement Evaluate Celebrate

Have health issues come up at your school council meetings?

Example: “School Nutrition” Issue SUPPORTIVE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT SERVICES Access to dietitians or nutritionists in the community in case any students need assessment and nutrition counselling Universal, nonstigmatizing school breakfast, snack, or lunch programs & school policies respecting diversity CURRICULUM Classroom education on nutrition Teacher inservices on curriculum support resources HEALTHY PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT Healthy cafeteria or tuck shop food selections Safe food handling

Example: “Bullying” Issue SERVICES School board social work, psychology and guidance services Public Health services Mental Health services SUPPORTIVE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT School Code of Conduct and noharassment policies Playground Peer Leadership Program CURRICULUM Educating teachers, students, bullies, victims and parents (classroom, workshops, web site HEALTHY PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT Responsibility Room Constructive lunch & recess activities Lighting; Supervision (walkie-talkies)

“Positives” of School Health Committees Increased opportunity for a wide range of health issues to surface Increased accountability / ownership of health issues Increased opportunity for school community to provide input, esp. students [equal voice] More public health insight into the issues and resources of the school Increased valuing of health by the school Community building

“Positives”—continued More comprehensive action (multiple strategies, multiple issues, multiple target populations) More “people power” e. g. ideas, work Enhanced student leadership development More outcomes—healthier school environment Long-term action e. g. policy development, multi-year action Expanded number of community partners — enhanced access to community resources

Perceived “Negatives” Turf issues Frequent member turnover Workload concerns Lack of support Contentious issues Scheduling difficulties Political climate Lack of fluency with other sector

Parent Involvement Some school health committees had parent members, others didn’t Parents were less involved with secondary school health committees Several committees had a parent as chair/ advisor Getting school council support is critical—can influence principal Parents bring resources that can assist students with planned activities

Valuable Role for School Councils Champion the establishment of a school health committee [health action team/ committee] in your school Contribute parent members Contribute towards shared leadership Harness resources from parents and community Seek support for this work from school boards and provincial ministries Support student voice and action

“Students have insight into the issue[s]. They’re very much there, they’re in the schoolyard, they’re in the lunchroom, they’re at the parties…So they have an insight that’s particular to what’s happening in their school, in their community, into the culture of their peers and that school. ”

“I think they feel empowered, or that they’re doing something for their peers, …that what they are saying is actually being heard, and action is happening because of what they’re saying. ”

Healthy Active School Communities (HASC) in Hastings & Prince Edward Counties

For More Information Ontario Healthy Schools Coalition www. opha. on. ca/ohsc See “Making Health Happen: A Toolkit for School Councils” Co-Chairs Barbara Ronson (416) 304 -1258 b. ronson@utoronto. ca Carol Mac. Dougall (416) 338 -7864 cmacdoug@toronto. ca