Please join us in an open FRESH meeting on Tuesday, February 2nd where we will be discussing what can be done to persuade the Technical Cooperation Group to start monitoring HLS/PSH education curricula and student learning
We begin 2021 with a focus on a core component of promoting health and social development through schools: a core curriculum in Health & Life Skills (HLS) education (often called Personal, Social & Health (PSH) education.
Despite the fact that HLS/PSH education is the primary infrastructure for delivering instruction in this area, there is very little research defining generic student learning outcomes (rather than optimal learning about a never ending list of topics/issues), very little reporting on the status of curricula in countries and only two national associations representing only HLS/PSH specialist teachers in the 200+ countries of the world.
Here is the web link to the Zoom meeting.
The Meeting ID is 836 6528 2006 and the Passcode is 745888
Webinar session description
Tuesday, 02 February 2021
(09:00 am Washington DC/ 14:00 London, UK)
Health & Life Skills Education: Ignored & Poorly Understood by Policy Makers, Researchers and Donors
The Covid 19 pandemic has exposed three essential risks among people in most countries. The lack of skill in hand-washing and other hygiene behaviours, the low literacy levels about vaccines causes hesitancy and refusing masks because we don’t realize that our own health is intertwined with the health of others has multiplied the damages and death caused by this pandemic. A mandatory health & life skills education curriculum can fix this problem among children in time for the next pandemic as well as reduce the impact of several other diseases.
UN agencies are monitoring student learning for the 2030 Goals in almost every core subject except health and life skills (HLS) which they have deliberately excluded from the list under Target 4.7. Researchers study education about many specific topics but rarely about the curricula that delivers that instruction. Donors fund projects on bits and pieces but few seek to build capacities such as instructional time, training primary and secondary HLS specialists or efficient curriculum design for HLS or personal-social & health (PSH) education. Almost no country or global organization reports on the status and reach of HLS/PSH curricula
This open meeting of the FRESH Partners review a detailed memo on the UN agency decisions to exclude HLS/PSH curricula from the monitoring of the UN 2030 goals. A petition/letter campaign will be discussed. We will also review questions from a Fact-Finding Survey & Policy/Curriculum Analysis of all countries and states being undertaken by several FRESH Partners to fill the gap left by the UN Technical Cooperation Group. Research questions to be investigated by a research network of the World Education Research Association as recommended by the FRESH Working Group on Health Literacy, Life Skills and Social Inclusion will be introduced.
To access this webinar, just click on this Participants Link a few minutes before the start of the session. This is a Zoom meeting:
Meeting ID: 836 6528 2006
Passcode: 745888
Recommended Reading & Resources
- Memo: Update on TCG Activities to Monitor Student Learning in Target 4.7
- Fact-Finding Survey & Policy/Curriculum Analysis: Background and Rationale
- Education to Promote Health, Personal & Social Development: A Key Part of the Social Role of Schooling
- Coherence in Curricula Promoting Health Literacy, Life Skills & Social Inclusion
Executive Director
International School Health Network
dmccall@internationalschoolhealth.org
Skype: Doug.McCall-Canada
www.internationalschoolhealth.org
