Excerpt from Health-promoting schools: a resource for developing indicators, (2006) Schools for Health Europe, Amsterdam
Kerttu Tossavainen & Hannele Turunen Research on using health-promoting schools indicators on a school level in Finland
pp 188-198
As part of the ENHPS, the Finnish Network of Health Promoting Schools has carried out a quantitative follow-up study every three years since 1997 to evaluate goal attainment and the possible changes in health promotion practices in the schools in the Finnish Network of Health Promoting Schools. The indicators that have been measured in the follow-up evaluation based on the model for health promotion in the school community of the Finnish Network of Health Promoting Schools are:
• general infrastructure; • clarification of the mission; • active participation; • curriculum development, planning and evaluation skills; and • implementation and networking.
The indicator on the general infrastructure consists of subindicators such as a healthy, safe and secure teaching and learning environment. These include physical and mental safety and security during lessons and breaks. For example, healthy nutrition, opportunities for physical education and adequate health services should be available. The indicator on clarification of the mission of health promotion includes subindicators related to joint discussions about the values, attitudes, commitment and resources related to health promotion. The indicator on participants’ active and collaborative participation comprises subindicators such as in-service training for staff and the use of collaborative methods and learning strategies and networking.
The indicator related to the development of curriculum planning and evaluation skills recognizes that if the school community considers health an important issue, it should also be visible at the curricular level. This requires systematic planning and collaboration between several fields of health promotion actors. Thereafter, the aims of health promotion and networking can be expected to be implemented in order to share experiences.
In Finland, a complete set of indicators has been developed for the Finnish Network of Health Promoting Schools (Box 6.2). The indicators have been selected for evaluating health promotion of schools in the Finnish Network of Health Promoting Schools at the school level and at the individual level. This case study focuses on describing the format of the quantitative follow-up study and some main results of one three-year study period. The aim of the study was to investigate teachers’ assessment of the achievement of and possible changes in health promotion practices between the beginning and the end of the three-year period during which the participating schools belonged to the Finnish Network of Health Promoting Schools. The purpose was to establish the level at which the schools in the Finnish Network of Health Promoting Schools promote health in relation to the specific indicators. The specific objectives were to determine how the general infrastructure, clarification of mission, active participation, curriculum development, evaluation skills, implementation and networking related to health promotion are achieved in the schools in the Finnish Network of Health Promoting Schools and the possible
changes that occurred during the three-year period.