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As the interdisciplinary nature of health education is recognised extra
care will have to be taken to prevent it becoming so diffuse that it is lost
again. The need for health education 'co-ordination' in each school is emerging
and a few schools have designated this task to one teacher.
Inservice Training
(a) Primary Schools
Four meetings with Primary School Teachers and supported by the
Education Inspectorate were held in the Health Education Section. The Principal
Health Education Officer gave several lecture-demonstrations for staff from
small groups of schools who met in one central school and an eight-week inservice
training course is arranged for the Spring Term 1972. These activities
were designed to encourage teachers to see health education as an essential
part of the curriculum and to provide them with up-to-date background information.
Teachers from 47 schools have applied to attend the Spring Course.
(b) Secondary Schools
A total of 87 teachers from 33 maintained Secondary Schools attended
some form of in-service training in health education during the last two years.
Two programmes for typical Junior and Senior Courses are given at the
end of this report.
Survey of Sex Education in Schools
A Survey was undertaken by the Education Inspectorate to assess the
extent of sex education in Croydon Schools. The topic is not commonly
viewed as a subject in isolation but is more usually incorporated in programmes
of community health and/or incorporated in some such specific area
of study as one or other of the sciences, social studies or home economics.
Some pupils may miss sex education opportunities through not taking these
particular subjects.
The work of the Health Education Staff was supplemented by six Health
Visitors and occasional informal series were given by school nurses as
appropriate.
The Health Education Staff continue to carry out for Junior Schools a
programme of pairs of lectures about growing up. The first is given in the
evening to parents of fourth year juniors and the second in the evening or the
afternoon to those same parents and their 10-11 year old children. 23 pairs of
lectures were booked between September and December 1971.
The following tables illustrate the extent of health education in schools:-