Institutions of Higher Education Pre-Service School Health Education Practices

Abstract

Background: The quality of health education teachers is, in large part, dependent on the education they receive from their teacher preparation program. Purpose: This study assessed institutions of higher education (IHE) teaching practices in school health teacher preparation programs regarding the amount of time spent and content taught related to various health education tools and products (e.g. National Health Education Standards, the Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool and the School Health Index). Methods: A survey (87 items) that demonstrated validity and reliability was mailed to the population of 225 lead school health education faculty at IHEs that offered school health licensure or certification programs. Results: The response rate was 59.6% (134/225). Faculty who taught how to use a variety of health education materials varied (30.6% to 89.6%), depending on the tools and products. Discussion: A primary responsibility of IHEs should be to help pre-service teachers utilize the tools and products described in this study. Many IHEs do not train their pre-service school health education majors to use these tools and products. Translation to Health Education Practice: Quality school health teacher preparation includes being trained on how to use these tools and products. To improve the quality of education provided by IHEs to pre-service school health education teachers, methods faculty need more training on incorporating these various tools into their curriculum.