Australian Health Promoting Schools
In November 2015, ACHPER welcomed the collaboration with and merging of members of the Australian Health Promoting Schools Association (AHPSA). ACHPER's commitment to improve the health, skills, participation and social and emotional well-being of children made it the ideal organisation for AHPSA to collaborate with.
Our national credibility in schools and with the Australian, State and Territory Governments provide a firm basis on which to develop support for the HPE learning area and positive promotion of healthy school environments. The ACHPER Health Promoting Schools Committee has been established to assist in advancing ACHPER's engagement with health education communities. For further information on the committee click here.
National Principles of Health Education
Drawing on the World Health Organizations’ Global Standards for Health Promoting Schools, developed in partnership with UNESCO, the ACHPER HPS Committee has developed a framework of key themes and guiding principles to support effective health education in schools. This is supported by a National Principles of Health Education audit tool designed to assist schools with understanding what they do well now and how to further develop their own initiatives. The WHO Global Standards for HPS document sets out examples for how schools can articulate HPS standards that address the 6 key features of a HPS school:
- Healthy school policies (e.g. Leadership, institutional capacity)
- Physical school environment (e.g. Safe playgrounds, Safe clean gender separate latrines)
- Social school environment (e.g. Anti-bullying environment, Equity)
- Health skills and education (e.g. Life skills education)
- Links with parents and community (e.g. Community involvement mechanisms)
- Access to (school) health services (e.g. School based health service, Linkage between school and Primary Health Care (PHC))
How does your school compare? Download the Health Promoting Schools Audit Tool to find out.