Quality Assurance in Teaching K–12 Health Education: Paving a New Path Forward

Abstract

To be effective, school health instruction should be taught by health educators who have graduated from accredited health education teacher education programs and are certified in health education. Unfortunately, the nation has failed to ensure that all those who teach health in schools are well prepared. States vary in the required coursework for health teachers in terms of initial licensure and continuing education for licensure renewal; most elementary teachers are not required to receive preparation in health education; health education and physical education are often viewed as synonymous disciplines; support for in-service education of health teachers is often lacking; and more research is needed in professional preparation and development of school health educators. This article provides a call to action in five areas to strengthen both the professional preparation and professional development of school health educators. Given that education is a social determinant of health, public health educators must become stronger allies in supporting school health to promote health equity. Public health practitioners can advocate to state and community school decision makers for comprehensive school health education taught by teachers with appropriate professional preparation and certification in health education. Public health faculty can educate their students about the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child framework and effective strategies for its implementation, and seek rigorous professional preparation and certification and accreditation standards for their school teacher preparation programs. National health and education organizations can call for new leadership and investments in health education teacher preparation and development for a brighter future.

Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis II 2020: Processes and Outcomes

“…This, along with not being able to identify specific individuals, makes it difficult to identify qualified health education specialists working in school settings and to access a sampling frame of this population. Another issue is that in recent years there has been a decline in employment of professionally prepared health education specialists in schools as well as professional health education preparation programs in school settings (Birch et al, 2019; Mann & Lohrmann, 2019). Some schools may assign teaching health education to other professionals (e.g., physical educators), which would prevent them from moving past the gating question for study participation.…”

Public Health and School Health Education: Aligning Forces for Change

“…The needs of a “highly connected” new generation of learners must be addressed through engaging, authentic teaching and learning approaches. Instructional approaches must stimulate and underscore health and numeracy literacy skills that provide the foundation for lifelong learning, as knowledge is created at a more rapid pace than ever (Birch, Goekler, Auld, Lohrmann, & Lyde, 2019).…”

“…For school health education to reach its maximum potential, it must be taught by passionate, well-prepared teachers who are certified in health education and participate in continuing education (Birch, 2017). The third article, “Quality Assurance in Teaching K–12 Health Education: Paving a new Path Forward,” outlines the current context of health education pedagogy in K-12 schools in which health education is often relegated to teachers who are not professionally prepared in the discipline (Birch et al, 2019). The authors present four challenges and recommendations that address certification and professional preparation and ongoing professional development for teachers at both the elementary and secondary levels.…”

Looking Back and Moving Forward: SOPHE’s 70 Years of Contributions to Health Education

“…Just as Abraham Flexner recognized at the turn of the 20th century the need to strengthen the profession of medicine by emphasizing the scientific paradigm of research and education (Flexner, 1910), SOPHE has led several initiatives whose purposes have been to establish health education as a population-based health profession (Livingood & Auld, 2001) and to strengthen quality assurance in professional preparation and credentialing (Birch et al, 2019; Cottrell et al, 2012; Doyle et al, 2015; Gilmore et al, 2005; Goekler et al, 2020; Knowlden et al, 2020; Taub, Birch, et al, 2009). These initiatives began unfolding in the late 1950s and have included publishing a statement of functions of community health educators and minimum requirements for their professional preparation (SOPHE, 1977; Turner, 1957), working with the American Association for Health Education (AAHE) to operate an approval process for community health education baccalaureate programs (Capwell et al, 2018; SOPHE & AAHE, 2007) and developing the initial graduate-level standards in health education (SOPHE & AAHE, 1997), establishing the AAHE/SOPHE Joint Committee on Ethics (Taub et al, 1987), identifying the continuing education needs of health education professionals (Allegrante et al, 2001; Daltroy & Roccella, 1987), and sponsoring the National Task Force on Accreditation in Health Education and its successors (Allegrante et al, 2004; Bernhardt et al, 2003; Cottrell et al, 2009).…”

“…With the International Union for Health Promotion and Education, SOPHE cosponsored the Galway Consensus Conference on international collaboration of credentialing in health education (Allegrante, Barry, Airhihenbuwa, et al, 2009; Allegrante, Barry, Auld, et al, 2009; Allegrante et al, 2012; Howze et al, 2009; Taub, Allegrante, et al, 2009), and with the Association of Schools and Programs in Public Health and the League for Innovation in Community Colleges helped advance public health and health education curricula in community college settings (Lohrmann et al, 2016; Riegelman & Wilson, 2016). More recently, SOPHE has made strides in strengthening the credentialing and quality assurance in K-12 school health education (Birch et al, 2019; Goekler et al, 2020; Taub et al, 2014).…”