​        Revised
  Schedule of Webinars

Once again, the Covid 19 crisis has caused changes in the schedule of webinars. Go to the FRESH webinars page for an up to date schedule, beginning with one on April 2nd on out of school children,  April 7th on low resource countries, April 9th on the Fact-Finding Survey, April 21 on systems thinking and the FRESH cross-cutting themes and April 23 with a panel on the sessions originally planned for the CIES comparative education conference.
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A coalition of UN agencies, networks, donors and global organizations
      Core components of school-based and school-linked approaches
                     Promoting educational success, health and development

Schools, agencies, systems For Recovery, Engagement, Social Inclusion and Health
FRESH, an intersectoral framework and global partnership for promoting the educational success, health, and development of school-age children and adolescents through schools, was launched by UNESCO, UNICEF, WHO and the World Bank during the World Education Forum,
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FRESH Partners often organize webinars and open web meetings as part of our activities.
LINK: FRESH WEBINARS ​
The FRESH Framework.. learn more 
The framework, which was originally called Focusing Resources on Effective School Health (FRESH), has evolved over the years in recognition of emerging trends and needs. Similar to and supportive of the multiple sectors and intersectoral cooperation needed to achieve the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the common framework adopted by FRESH Partners retains a broad view of the many facets of health while engaging with other sectors working on different aspects of human development such as safety from violence & crime, equity, inclusion, relief & development aid, social and sustainable development. As the partnership continued its work, the focus on access to schooling, attendance and educational attainment has increased and become central to our discussions. We also emphasize that schools, other agencies and ministries need to address the needs of the whole child through a holistic core curriculum and broad educational goals as well as through health, social and other services that address their specific issue while recognizing its connection to the overall health and development of the child. 

Consequently, we use the phrase "promoting educational success, health and development" and the FRESH icon as a way to reflect the shared goals of many multi-component approaches such as health promoting schools, child-friendly schools, school-health & nutrition, community schools, safe schools, education in emergencies and many others. The FRESH framework lists key components or "pillars" that are common to all of these approaches, These common components are ministry/agency/school policies, classroom and other forms of education/learning, health & other services, a safe, healthy physical environment and a positive social environment that includes student and parent involvement. The FRESH framework also lists essential cross-cutting themes such as intersectoral partnerships, country ownership, child rights and participation, contextualization of programs/strategies and community participation. As well, the FRAMEWORK includes several topic/problem based themes or multi-intervention programs such as violence prevention, reducing risk from disasters, nutrition and many others. Practical and realistic indicators of progress have been developed for the original 15 topics and more are being developed for new topics such as mental health, child abuse/exploitation, bullying and family violence. 

The FRESH framework positions the school as a hub within the community to serve students and families. Consequently, we are concerned about school-based and school-linked programs/initiatives that reach beyond the school to support parents, engage with community organizations and are part of regional or national strategies. As well, while we often use the term "school" in these discussions, research and experience has taught us that school-level initiatives or single-focus programs are insufficient and unsustainable without the full involvement of local/regional authorities and ministries in several sectors through long-term, capacity-building, systems-based, continuous improvement planning and action.  
The FRESH Partnership, a coalition of UN agencies, donors and global NGO's, is pleased to invite everyone interested on school health and development to join us in two series of web meetings and webinars during March. Dates, times and details of these sessions can be found on the FRESH web site at:
https://www.fresh-partners.org/fresh-webinarsweb-meetings.html 
  • Two open web meetings will continue the discussions from the FRESH Working Group on Health Literacy, Life Skills and Social Inclusion. This WG has over 70 experts, officials and practitioners contributing their expertise in a series of linked discussions on an agenda of topics. On March 3, the practical applications of behaviour theories will be discussed. On March 18, participants will discuss Life Skills programs.
  • Five webinars expanding on the FRESH panel presentation being held at the CIES (Comparative Education) Conference March 20-26, 2020 in Miami will be held between March 3rd and March 12th.  The topics include Breadth of Learning Opportunities (March 3), HPSD Education (March 5th), SH in Low Resource Countries (March 10), Systems Change (March 11th) and the Global Fact-Finding Survey (March 12th)
Go to the FRESH Webinars/Web Meetings web page for details and web links to access the sessions.

Concept Notes and Background Papers for the:
​FRESH Working Group on Health Literacy, Life Skills & Social Inclusion

As you know, ISHN has been facilitating this WG with the other members of the FRESH Partnership.The WG has involved over 80 experts, officials and practitioners from several UN agencies, universities and NGO’s in these activities:
  • The FRESH Working Group which is preparing a comprehensive report and recommendations for measuring, monitoring & improving HPSD education through a series of 20+ open web meetings led by experts. Each web meeting is recorded, supported by concept notes and selected readings. These will be rolled up into the final report in the fall of 2020.
  • A parallel International Research Network formed by the World Education Research Association (WERA) that will take up and seek participants/funding to conduct the research identified by the WG
  • A Consortium of Education & Other Faculties, co-led by the Global Network of Deans of Education (GNDE) and the International School Health Network (ISHN) that will map out a long-term workforce development approach for countries & global agencies to consider when developing the HPSD education workforce (educators and other professionals who work in and with schools)
  • A focused PVE project & advisory committee of 39 people creating a research/knowledge development agenda on how a multi-intervention, social inclusion approach can prevent violent extremism, youth alienation and other anti-social behaviours. This project, funded by Public Safety Canada, is an example of the follow up work on themes identified by the overall FRESH WG    

We are starting to bring the pieces together into an extensive report with recommendations that will be followed up on by the research network and consortium of education and other faculties.  Webinars and Concept Notes have been or are being completed:

On the Scope and Nature of HPSD Education/Social Inclusion
  • Competency-based, Cross-Curricular Frameworks & Generic HPSD Student Learning Objectives
  • Learning in Extended Education Activities
  • Minimum Instructional Time/Timetabling
  • Long-term, systemic Workforce development for Teachers & Others
  • Concepts & Tools to Implement, Maintain, Scale Up & Sustain Programs
On Learning/Behavioural Models/Theories:
  • Health Literacy
  • Life Skills
  • Social Inclusion
  • Digital & Media Literacy
  • Critical Thinking
  • Social & Emotional Learning
  • Disaster Risk Reduction & Recovery
  • Ed. for Sustainable Development
  • Global Citizenship
  • Behaviour Theories
  • Positive Behaviour Support

Fact-finding Survey & Policy/Curriculum Analysis

In  tandem with this work, ISHN is working with UNICEF, UNESCO and other partners to gather the facts about the current status of HPSD education within the overall comprehensive framework developed by the FRESH Partners. This will include a global fact-finding survey and analysis plan to collect and examine curriculum, guidance and policy documents.

The fact-finding survey will:
  • Be sent to all countries and states/provinces (n=300+)
  • Ask questions re core components (policy, education, services, social environment and physical environment)
  • Ask if country has selected 4-5 national priority issues, components or sub-populations to focus resources
  • Ask which aspects of the whole child, which ministries, which of 16 MCA’s,  (healthy schools, safe schools, child friendly schools etc.) and which of 30+ MIP’s (nutrition, bullying, school dropout, etc.) are addressed
  • Ask if country has used evidence-based tools to do situation assessment and to ensure high quality implementation, planning and assessment
  • Ask if country participates in global surveys such as HBSC, GSHS, etc
  • Ask if country has explicit strategy to integrate/mainstream within education system (educ. Benefits, personnel to schools etc.)
  • Ask if country is using systems-focused actions such as joint ministry budgeting, joint/paired assignments, consultations with middle managers etc. that modify system routines & structures
The curriculum/guidance/policy documents will be stored in the UNESCO Clearinghouse on Health Education for researchers to access and study. The IRN will form teams of researchers interested in different aspects of HPSD education. (If interested, contact dmccall@internationalschoolhealth.org). Consultations now underway with FRESH Partners and key UN agencies monitoring 4.7.1 and 4.7.2 of the UN 2030 Goals. The analysis on HPSD education will ask about
  • curriculum structure (Health alone, Health &Life Skills, HPSD, Health &PE etc.)
  • required or recommended instructional time for HPSD
  • coherence with cross-curricular competency frameworks
  • Status of a generic or essential student learning outcomes in HPSD,
  • emphasis on student agency and teacher self-efficacy
The content analysis will be similar to a recent OECD analysis of PE curricula in 16 HRC’s and to a Brooking’s preliminary analysis of 21st Century Learning skills
The analysis on social inclusion will emulate an EU analysis and several reviews measuring social & emotional learning. Other analyses will be done on school food & nutrition



Covid 19 Round Up

You will likely have seen that several organizations have been responding to the Covid 19 crisis with various resources and activities. Here is a quick round up
  • Save the Children/FRESH webinar on hand washing (WASH) programs -Here are the web links to the recording and slide presentations.
  • The Health Promotion program at WHO has convened an informal working group to advise on school-based and school-linked actions (ISHN has been invited to be part of that group)
  • The Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Directorate of Education and Skills of the OECD are collaborating in the development of a decision-support framework to support governments in devising education responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Go to their initial survey
  • A collection of resources prepared by the American School Health Association


Upcoming FRESH Webinars/Web Meetings

02 April 2020
9:00 am Washington DC time

Using evidence to leave no child behind: What next for the Out-of-School Children Initiative?  
MODERATOR: Stuart Cameron, Equity and Inclusion Thematic Lead, GPE Secretariat 
PRESENTERS:
  • Mark Waltham, Chief of Education, UNICEF Nepal Country Office
  • Wongani Grace Taulo, Senior Education Advisor, Gender Equity and Inclusion (GIE) UNICEF
  • Sheena Bell, PhD Student, Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Toronto Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) (formerly UIS, UNICEF)
  • Bilal Barakat, Senior Policy Analyst, Global Education Monitoring Report (GEMR), UNESCO
Many children and adolescents remain out-of-school in GPE partner countries, mostly from the marginalized groups. Understanding who these children are and why they are out-of-school is a vital step in policy and planning. The Out-of-School Children Initiative (OOSCI) is a partnership between UNICEF, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) which was developed and launched in 2010. It aims to support governments to create and execute innovative approaches to better estimate the number of children that are not included in educational opportunities, identify who these children are, and to create solutions to bring these children back to school. This session will reflect on the lessons from OOSCI since 2010, examine some key methodological issues around counting out-of-school children, and consider how evidence can be used in future to improve policy and planning, and remove barriers to educational opportunity.
Organized by the Global Partnership for Education

To access this session, click on this YouTube Live web link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGkytVI2IWk

07 April 2020
09:00 am Washington DC time
School Health & Development in Low Resource Countries: The Ongoing FRESH Partners Dialogue and Summaries
  • Mohini Venkatesh, Senior Advisor, Save the Children
  • Lesley Drake, Executive Director, Partnership for Child Development
  • Jen Williams, Plan International UK
  • Presenters from several FRESH Webinars, Co-Authors of LRC papers
Context matters. The resources, culture, systems and capacities within countries and regions will determine the nature, priorities and, ultimately, the sustainability of school-based and school-linked programs to promote education, health and development. Understanding these factors and developing programs, policies and multi-component approaches within contexts such as conflict/disaster-affected regions, small island developing states and indigenous communities has become an important matter, even a starting point, for many UN agencies, donor organizations, researchers and global organizations.

This presentation from the FRESH Partnership draws attention to the needs and effective programs that are most relevant to low resource countries (LRC). This focus on low resource countries (LRC), we can enhance their relevance, effectiveness and sustainability. The FRESH partners (www.fresh-partners.org) have been working gather the research and practice-based knowledge about LRC through an ongoing series of FRESH webinars and papers.The issues most relevant to the LRC context have been identified and resources should be focused on these issues. Several guiding principles have ben identified:
  • Country ownership and leadership
  • Broad-based national and international coordination and collaboration
  • Empowerment of people and communities
  • Evidence-based and experience-tested approaches, programs
  • Incremental, implementation, scale up and sustainability planning
  • Equity and gender-based interventions
This webinar will highlight how these issues and principles have been discussed in over 25 webinars led by Save the Children over the past few years and in several papers supported by the Young Health Program of Plan International-UK. The presentation will invite participants to join in these ongoing discussions.
This webinar is part of a series in early March 2020 highlighting the work of FRESH Partners in promoting educational success, health and development. These sessions will be part of a FRESH panel presentation at the Comparative Education conference (CIES 2020) in Miami March 20-26, 2020

To access this webinar, just click on this Participants Link a few minutes before the start of the session.

Recommended Readings & Resources
09 April 2020
09:00 am Washington DC time 

Global School Health & Development: Starting with the Facts:
  • Deepika Mehrish Sharma, Senior Advisor, School Nutrition, UNICEF
  • Emilie Sidaner, Coordinator, UN Inter-Agency Initiative on School Health & Nutrition
A long history that is somewhat short on basic facts. This could be one description of school-based and school-linked promotion of educational success, health and development at the global level. Despite decades of work and research we find ourselves, at the start of the UN Sustainable Development Goals process, without many facts on the status of the core policies, education, services and social/physical conditions in schools. This session will present the framework and key questions in a fact-finding survey and collection of policy/curriculum documents that will help to fill the gap in our knowledge.
The concept of a multi-component approach (MCA) to promoting educational success, health and development through schools emerged in the late 1980’s and diffrent versions were published by UN agencies in the 1990’s on overlapping aspects such as health, inclusion, safety and others. In 2000, several UN agencies came together and published the FRESH Framework as a tool to align their efforts around some common, core components as they pursued their respective approaches such as health promoting schools, child-friendly schools, safe schools, community schools and others. 
A 1997 WHO report noted that the concept of Health Promoting Schools was subject of confusion as to purposes, outcomes, and essential elements.There is a common belief how policy, education, service and changes in the physical and social environment of the school should be coordinated. But we use these four or five “pillars” or components differently for different purposes. Some models see these elements as critical infrastructure. Other models as “domains” or spaces into which single or multiple interventions can be delivered, with or without coordination. Another blind spot in our thinking has been the unit of action and analysis. Most models advocate for a “whole school” approach, where the work and change occurs at the school level, primarily by teachers and other educators. Much less attention has been paid to the practices of local health, social and other agencies, local school districts and the various other ministries that share the responsibility for delivering and maintaining school programs.More confusion continues today, especially as we struggle to use new knowledge about ecological approaches and systems thinking.
This session will seek to clarify and dispel some of this confusion by focusing on a set of facts to be gleaned from a global fact-finding survey and a collection of policy/curriculum documents being undertaken by several FRESH Partners. The fact-finding exercise will describe the status of the core FRESH components related to educational access, health, equity. These include over-arching policy, education, health & other services, a safe, healthy physical environment and social environment.
The survey will include food and nutrition as an example of how the FRESH Framework can be applied to a broad health/social issue.Other questions will be asked about national/state strategies related to adaptation to different contexts, system/organizational capacities, implementation quality and planning for scale-up/sustainability, integration within the core mandates and concerns of education systems and the use of systems science/ organizational development concepts and tools.
FRESH Partners are pleased to note that a new UN Inter-Agency Initiative on School Health & Nutrition is being established to better coordinate efforts at the global and country level. One of the activities of this initiative will be a a substantive report on school health & nutrition.
This webinar is part of a series in early March 2020 highlighting the work of FRESH Partners in promoting educational success, health and development. These sessions will be part of a FRESH panel presentation at the Comparative Education conference (CIES 2020) in Miami March 20-26, 2020 
To access this webinar, just click on this Participants Link a few minutes before the start of the session.

Recommended Readings & Resources

21 April 2020
09:00 am Washington DC time 

Big Thinking,Small Steps:Systems Change in School Health & Development
  • Doug McCall, Executive Director, International School Health Network
  • TBD Experts and Organizations cencered with implementation, capacity and systems change issues)
In 2014, the FRESH Partners, a coalition of over 40 UN agencies, donors and NGO’s, identified the core components or pillars (FRESH Framework that are common to the different approaches used when working with schools. At the same time, FRESH Partners published a set of Thematic Indicators on 13 different issues or topics. In 2020, the FRESH Coalition is developing a set of cross-cutting themes that cover issues such as contextualization, implementation quality, scaling up and sustaining programs, and systems change. The cross-cutting themes will identify simple, powerful criteria that are already in use by several UN agencies and that can be applied to monitor and improve school programs and approaches
About 2005 and increasingly thereafter, researchers began to catch up with practitioners in understanding that school systems are open, adaptive, multi-level, bureaucratic and complex ecological systems that cannot be engaged in multiple, competing projects and programs without creating an ecological, systems-based approach. Systems thinking and systems science concepts and tools are now being used to guide, plan and evaluate health promotion and social development approaches and programs.In 2019, the International School Health Network (ISHN), a FRESH Partner, launched a  global discussion on the new systems-focused strategies and actions needed for the “new” school health promotion of the 21st Century. These have been summarized in a draft statement on A New Paradigm for School Health Promotion in the 21st Century
This webinar is part of a series in early March 2020 highlighting the work of FRESH Partners in promoting educational success, health and development. These sessions will be part of a FRESH panel presentation at the Comparative Education conference (CIES 2020) in Miami March 20-26, 2020
To access this webinar, just click on this Participants Link a few minutes before the start of the session.

Recommended Readings & Resources
23 April 2020
06:00 am Washington DC time
Equity, Education, Health & Social Development: Part of the Bridge to a Sustainable Future
  • Martin Henry, Education International and Esther Care, Brookings Institution
  • Dan Laitsch, Faculty of Education, SFU, Chair, International Research Network (World Education Research Association
  • Mohini Ventakesh (Save the Children)  Jen Williams (Plan International-UK)
  • Deepika Sharma, Senior Advisor, UNICEF
  • Douglas McCall, International School Health Network

School-based and school-linked promotion of equity, educational success, health and social development has re-emerged as an urgent concern for policymakers as schools are once again recognized as the hub and host of multiple programs and the backbone to achieving many of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The FRESH Partners, a coalition of UN agencies, donors and global organizations, invites researchers, practitioners, officials and others to reflect on progress towards these goals as we reach the one-third mark in the fifteen years towards the 2015-2030 objectives. The FRESH Partners invite discussions and presentations on some of the themes that we have been working on together as well as others; including:
  • strengthened consensus on a whole child approach by documenting the need for a wide breadth of learning opportunities in schools and introducing tools for countries to use in broadening their choices and pathways for students.
  • ensuring that the support for health & life skills stated in the 2015 Incheon Declaration is reflected in the monitoring of Goal #4, Target 4.7 (learning objectives) of the SDG's by reporting on the work of the FRESH Working Group on Health Literacy, Life Skills & Social Inclusion and the parallel WERA International Research Network on HPSD and GNDE Consortium of Education & Other Faculties.
  • improved equity and relevance by focusing on the policies and educational programs that are of more concern to low resource countries (LRC). The FRESH partners have been working gather the research and practice-based knowledge about LRC through an ongoing series of FRESH webinars and papers.
  • reporting on the initial results and implications of a global fact-finding survey on the core components and practices in school health promotion and development that will describe the current capacities and practices as we work towards an achievable future. This fact-finding survey will include curriculum and policy documents on health, personal & social development.
  • more focus on systems and incremental change to ensure sustainable programs and practices at all levels across multiple sectors by reviewing the newly published FRESH cross-cutting themes/indicators on topics such as situation assessments, organizational capacities and implementation/scale-up strategies Lead Presenters could include Doug McCall (ISHN), Luke Wolfenden (Australia- Implementation Centre) and others who are not focused on systems change strategies
This webinar is part of the program of CIES 2020 the world conference of the Comparative & International Education Society. The session was intended to be a panel presentation at the conference in Miamia. FRESH PArtners are pleased to organize this virtual session as part of that event and to highlight the work of FRESH Partners.To access this webinar, just click on this Participants Link a few minutes before the start of the session.

Recommended Readings & Resources