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not meet the needs of today's future adults. There exists at least a marginal
concensus of opinion on content. Children need age-appropriate knowledge
concerning their own bodies, their physical, social and cultural environment
and the moral and physical values which will produce the kind of adult who
can deal with the demands of future urban life. Public responsibility in the
end means individual concern. The basic ideas covered were:—
People connected with health.
Growth and development (including sex education at the appropriate
time).
Common experiences, e.g. fainting, X-rays, injections and so forth.
The same school also initiated three half-hour sessions weekly with
third year classes, starting points again being followed up by the
teaching staff.
The basic ideas included:—
How we learn about the world about us (developing understanding
of the senses.)
Life and its needs.
Although Health Education should be integrated into general education
either through traditional academic disciplines or open-ended teaching, in
practice this rarely occurs unless the health education content is planned
and contrived. The above work was an attempt to show this.
Oval Junior School.
Throughout the year an enterprising Health Visitor worked with groups
of children and their teachers inthe first, third and fourth years, integrating
very simple applied physiology with growth, first aid, environmental and
personal health, personal hygiene, prevention of illness, junior citizenship
and human relationships. Visits were arranged to a Child Health Centre and
to Taberner House. Associated with this teaching and with help from the
Health Education staff and equipment an excellent home safety exhibition
was arranged in the school hall. Parents and all the children in the school
were invited to visit this during an afternoon and evening and the attendance
was most rewarding.
"The facts of this inadequacy (of health education) have risen to the
surface and are the popular targets of mass media and commercial interests.
A great deal of sensationalism goes into public print on subject like sex
and family life education, self medication, accident and safety, obesity,
cigarette smoking, credit purchasing, food fads and the teenage market to
name just a few of today's concern" (J.F. Keefe. 1967). We still have much
to do.