Certification of Health Educators: A Priority for the Seventies

Abstract

The emergence of health education as a recognized curriculum in American schools has been a long and difficult process. In recent times, we have witnessed excellent gains in the acceptance of health instruction programs, with greater visibility and higher status than was previously enjoyed in the total pattern of education. However, provisions for the certification of qualified personnel to provide such instruction have not kept pace with other developments in health education. With few exceptions, states are continuing to certify health instructors according to obsolete certification patterns, designed for another time and for conditions and circumstances other than those which now prevail. Most of the traditional patterns under which we continue to labor are no longer adequate to certify that a health instructor is capable of meeting today's challenges.