Conference Agenda
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Please note that all times are shown in the time zone of the conference. The current conference time is: 19th Aug 2026, 21:28:41 EET
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Daily Overview |
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08 SES 06 A: School Health Education Futures
Research Workshop | ||
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08. Health and Wellbeing Education
Research Workshop School Health Education Futures 1: Monash University, Australia; 2: University of Regina, Canada; 3: Aarhus University, Denmark Presenting Author:Schools are widely recognised as key settings for addressing the health of children, young people, and the broader school community. Within these settings, formal health education classrooms function as a critical platform through which students engage with health knowledge, skills, and values. However, what health education looks and feels like varies considerably across classrooms, schools, regions, and over time. These variations are shaped by differing curricular configurations and by national and local policy contexts, each with distinct mandates, priorities, and understandings of what health education is for and how it is best delivered. Despite the emphasis that has been placed on school health education over time, several scholars have drawn attention to the ‘poor state of school health education’. Kolbe (2024) for example has described school health education as “unorganized” and “underdeveloped” (p. 661). Similarly, Vamos and McDermott (2021) lament that health education has “gotten insufficient traction” (p. 675). There are of course numerous other critiques that have emerged over time that have critically interrogated the over emphasis placed on individual lifestyle behaviours at the expense of the broader social determinants of health which has meant that health education has consistently struggled to achieve its various ambitions (Leahy and Simovska, 2017).
Against a backdrop of long-standing critiques that position school health education as fragmented, underdeveloped, and overly focused on individual behaviour change, this workshop provides an opportunity for participants from diverse regions and countries to come together to discuss the state of health education and critically explore how it might be strengthened and reimagined to meet the demands of the next decade. In the workshop we aim to bring together diverse perspectives to collectively consider broader questions about what health education is for, what shapes its enactment in different contexts, and how it might be reimagined as a more coherent and impactful platform over the next ten years.
The workshop is structured in three main parts.
1.Part One focuses on the present, inviting participants to reflect on the current state of school health education, including , everyday challenges, and emerging pressures shaping practice.
2. Part Two invites participants to turn to the future, creating space for collective speculation and dialogue about the directions school health education might take in response to changing social, political, and educational conditions.
3. Part Three turns toward action, creating space for participants to articulate shared priorities and concrete pathways for strengthening school health education in the face of contemporary and emerging challenges.
Insights generated in the workshop will be systematically analysed and used to inform the first round of a subsequent Delphi study. The purpose of the Delphi study is to build a shared, critically informed agenda for the future of school health education. The Delphi study will be used to systematically surface and interrogate areas of convergence and divergence regarding the purposes, assumptions, and conditions shaping school health education across contexts. By doing so, we aim to move beyond isolated critiques or context-specific accounts to develop a set of guiding principles and shared priorities that can support the reimagining of school health education as a more coherent, resilient, and impactful platform over the next ten years, capable of responding to complex and contested contemporary health challenges. We will invite workshop participants to be involved in subsequent rounds of the study.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used The workshop adopts a participatory methodology designed to surface diverse experiences, perspectives, and priorities related to the present and future of school health education. Rather than seeking immediate consensus, it values contextual variation, critical reflection, and lived experience as key sources of insight. As the first phase of a broader Delphi study, the workshop functions as an exploratory and agenda-setting space, enabling participants to articulate how health education is currently enacted in their contexts, the challenges shaping practice, and possibilities for future development. Structured conversation support both individual reflection and collective sense-making, with insights captured through group discussion and shared artefacts. These data will inform the development of subsequent Delphi rounds. Workshop participants will be invited to participate in subsequent rounds of the Delphi study. Key phases and questions Part One: School Health education’s present How is school health education positioned and configured in your context? What approaches and assumptions currently shape health education practice? Who teaches health education, and how are they prepared and supported to do so? What policy, accountability, and system-level factors most strongly influence health education in your context? What societal issues are making the work of school health education more complex or contested in your context, and how are these playing out in schools? Part Two: School Health education’s futures What should school health education be for over the next decade in your context? What approaches or pedagogical shifts will be most important for health education to remain relevant and impactful? What will teachers of health education need to be prepared, supported, and confident in the future? What policy, curriculum, or system-level changes would most enable stronger and more coherent school health education? How should school health education respond to wider societal challenges such as misinformation, polarisation, and declining trust in institutions? Part Three: Key priorities for action What should be the top priorities for strengthening school health education over the next ten years? What needs to be protected, strengthened, or scaled up in school health education? What needs to change, be disrupted, or let go of to enable more coherent and impactful practice? Where are the most realistic opportunities for action? What would meaningful progress look like in practice? Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings The workshop is the first step in a larger project that seeks to explore the state of school health education and consider its possible future. Workshop discussions will likely provide us with a deeper understanding of the complex, contested, and uneven policy and practice landscape that is impacting on the delivery of quality school health education. Research has drawn attention to how school health education is shaped by curriculum crowding, workforce capacity constraints, politicisation of health topics, the emergence of wellbeing and more recently the rapid proliferation of misinformation and post-truth narratives. This workshop will provide us with insights into how these challenges are playing out across contexts. At the same time, the findings are expected to surface promising practices where health education functions as a critical platform for building critical health literacy, supporting student agency, and engaging with contemporary societal challenges. Collectively, the workshop will highlight key priority areas for action. References Kolbe L.J. (2024). The future of school health education in the United States: An ontology. J Sch Health. 94: 661-673. https://doi-org.libproxy.uregina.ca/10.1111/josh.13436. Leahy, D., & Simovksa, V. (2018). School health education and promotion: current approaches and critical perspectives: part 2. Health Education, 118(2), 114-116. https://doi.org/10.1108/HE-12-2017-0068 Vamos, S.D. & McDermott, R.J. (2021), Rebranding School Health: The Power of Education for Health Literacy. J School Health, 91: 670-676. https://doi-org.libproxy.uregina.ca/10.1111/josh.13056 | ||