The importance of school leaders in school health promotion. A European call for systematic integration of health in professional development

Abstract

School leaders such as principals are key not only for educational and school quality but also for initiating and sustainably anchoring any innovation in schools. Although there is widespread agreement about the importance of holistic approaches to school health promotion, the role of principals has received increased, but not yet systematic, attention. In this context, it is unclear which leadership competencies are needed and to what extent they are taught. Hence, this paper aims to reflect whether and to what extend health promotion plays a role in preservice and inservice training of principals in Europe. Based on the results we call for a more systematic analysis of existing teaching opportunities and teaching needs for health-promoting leadership, the development of a European competence framework for health-promoting leadership, the development and implementation of a European system that monitors and evaluates the effectiveness of those preservice and inservice training programs, and the development of case-studies to stimulate a mutual learning process.

Associations between Polish school principals’ health literacy and implementation of the Health Promoting School approach during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Given the data obtained, we believe improving school principals’ HL is crucial for effectively implementing HPS supporting students, teaching, working conditions and principles. Simultaneously, the HL of school principals can be increased, among others, by including content related to school health promotion during school principals’ initial and in-service training [ 54 , 55 ]. It is also essential to develop a health-promoting leadership model of school managing, understood as ’[…] leadership that is concerned with creating a culture for health-promoting workplaces and values to inspire and motivate the employees to participate in such a development’ [ 56 ].…”