Didier

Source: EuroHealthNet, published 5 February 2024

Test scores make it very clear: education systems in Europe are in crisis.¹ The physical and mental health of children and youth is in decline in many parts of Europe, and high levels of social and health inequalities persist.² Meanwhile, low pay, stress and administrative burdens are leading to teacher shortages and burn-out. All of these factors are diminishing the potential and life opportunities of children and youth across the continent. 

The Schools4Health Policy Seminar, organised under the auspices of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU, discussed new approaches to put health and wellbeing at the centre of school policies and structures.

“Children and youth who are in good physical, social and mental health generally have fewer problems at school and are more likely to do well as adults. It is crucial that we create the right conditions for all young people to be healthy and to feel good. Schools are ideal places to work on this, since that is where we can reach all children and youth.”

Hon. Minister Hilde Crevits – Vice-Minister-President of the Government of Flanders, Flemish Minister for Welfare, Public Health and Family. Watch video address

Health promoting school approaches not only include health in school curricula, but also ensure that the overall culture, and the structures in schools contribute to the health and wellbeing of everyone in the school community. Evidence reflects that such approaches improve not only the physical and mental health of students and teachers, they also lead to better educational outcomes.³  

“A core obstacle to the implementation of the approach is the pressure on teachers and schools to deliver on core curricular subjects. Focusing on health is regarded as an additional task, rather than a solution. Investing in the health and wellbeing of teachers and young people will also contribute to their achievement and performance as educators and students.” 

Dr Kevin Dadaczynski, keynote speaker, Professor of the Fulda University of Applied Sciences Germany and Co-Chair of SHE Network research group

The Seminar showed that, when it comes to successfully implementing health promoting school approaches, there is plenty of work ahead. National policies lead only 29% of schools in Europe to work with such approaches.⁴ School systems, structures and policies often do not allow for innovation for health and wellbeing due to existing high level of demands on schools.

“Recent policy initiatives at EU level, such as Pathways to School Success emphasise the inseparability of school success and wellbeing, both of learners and their teachers. Addressing this link requires a whole-school approach and close cooperation.

Schools4Health and the Seminar pave the way for a stronger cooperation between education and health policy makers and practitioners to address wellbeing at school, ensuring that learners are given all chances to achieve their full potential and be better prepared for the future.”

Oana Felecan, Policy Officer on school education, equity and wellbeing, DG Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, European Commission

Another central theme of the Seminar was that implementing health promoting school approaches to health is not a responsibility of schools alone. Policy makers, public authorities, practitioners and the broader community around schools have a shared responsibility. They must ensure that measures and tools embed the key considerations of a health promoting school approach and are drivers of positive change and healthier school environments. 

“There is an urgency to improve education settings for the wellbeing of children, adolescence and teachers alike. A renewed focus on school conditions and environments that improve mental health, nutrition and physical activity is crucial. This requires close coordination between sectors, from municipal to European Union policy levels. EuroHealthNet is proud to lead the Schools4Health efforts in this area.”

Caroline Costongs, Director of EuroHealthNet

More about the Schools4Health event

The Seminar took place on 31 January 2024 in Brussels, in the context of Schools4Health Initiative, which is coordinated by EuroHealthNet and involves 13 organisations from 10 countries across the EU. It was organised under the auspices of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU and welcomed over 75 experts and policymakers in the field of health and education, in addition to more than 150 participants who joined online. 

For more information on Schools4Health watch our new video and visit www.schools4health.eu.

¹ PISA – PISA (oecd.org)
² HBSC study | Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study
³ Jourdan D, Gray N, Barry M, Caffe S, Cornu C, Diagne F, El Hage F, Farmer M, Slade S, Marmot M & Sawyer S (2021). Supporting every school to become a foundation for healthy lives. Lancet Child and Adolescent Health
⁴ Vilaça, T., Darlington, E., Rosário, R., Bessems, K., Velasco, & Velasco, V. (2019). SHE mapping report: Lessons learnt from policies andpractices of SHE member countries. Haderslev, Denmark: Schools for Health in Europe Network Foundation (SHE)

Join the Schools4Health seminar “Innovating health and education: Because children and youth who feel better, do better” on 31 January 2024. The seminar will be organised under the auspices of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of European Union, and will take place in Brussels.

Background

Schools play an important role in shaping children and youth’s academic, physical, mental, and social development, with lasting impacts across their life course. Investments in state-of-the-art Health Promoting School approaches are a key entry point to cultivating healthier educational and social environments. The WHO defines a health promoting school as one which “is constantly strengthening its capacity as a healthy setting for living, learning and working”. Such approaches not only enable students to develop good habits around nutrition, physical activity, and mental health, but are also part of the solution to interrelated societal challenges such as social inequity and climate change.

This is the ethos of the Schools4Health initiative (2023-2025), led by EuroHealthNet and funded under the EU4Health programme. Against this background, the seminar will explore how different stakeholders in policy and practice, across levels of governance and sectors, can work better together to optimise the contribution that schools can make to the health and wellbeing of students, the school community as well as the wider communities that they are in. The UNESCO Chair is one of the partners in this project.

The purpose of the seminar is to:

• Gather experts, policy makers and other key stakeholders to convey the critical need to invest in health promoting school approaches and create enabling policy conditions for health promoting schools;
• Spotlight country-level policies on health promotion in schools, presenting key policy insights from Schools4Health partners in Belgium, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia and Spain;
• Make links to the broader EU policy context and identify key tools which can be applied to mobilise health promoting approaches in and around schools;
• Explore the state of the art in multistakeholder involvement and identify opportunities for collaboration to create healthier schools.

Seminar programme and registration

More information about the School4Health project.

More information about the seminar programme and registration.

On 22 November 2023 the UNESCO Chair Global Health & Education in collaboration with Maastricht University, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, JOGG and EuroHealthNet organized a workshop on “Intersectoral working among education and health: from words into actions”. It was one of the sessions during the 13^th European Congress on Global Health, ECTMIH2023, in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Intersectoral working

The COVID pandemic has highlighted the importance of intersectoral working between health and education sectors. Yet they still have their own objectives and speak their own language. During the workshop the importance of intersectoral working between health and education and especially how this can be put into practice, was highlighted.

Three presenters shared their experiences with intersectoral working in school and community settings and on implementation. Bonnie van Dongen (Assistant Professor, Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) presented the outcomes of her PhD study on ‘building community capacity as a strategy for sustainable implementation of Health Promoting Schools in the Netherlands. In the talk of Patty Scholten (manager Healthy Communities, JOGG, Netherlands) she presented the holistic approach based on health in and for all policies in local communities. Local JOGG coordinators build a network, with a focus on shared ownership. Finally Ingrid Stegeman (programme manager EuroHealthNet) highlighted some of the EuroHealthNet projects on linking health and education, for example the recently started ‘Schools4Health’ project.

Health and education seem so aligned, yet they operate so separately. It requires leadership from governments and organisations and well-informed, committed people. One of the conclusions after the lively discussion with participants, led by Prof Stef Kremers (professor of Health promotion, vice-dean Faculty of Health Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University), was that effective cooperation between the two sectors all relies on good communication and using the right terminology. As one of the presenters said: ‘ don’t be afraid to try, embrace complexity and uncertainty’. The vision and work of the UNESCO Chair on Global Health & Education which focuses on bringing the health and education sectors together on a global level, was briefly highlighted by Goof Buijs (manager UNESCO Chair).

You can download the presentations here:

Bonnie van Dongen

Patty Scholten

Ingrid Stegeman

Goof Buijs

Education International (EI) and Education and Solidarity Network (ESN) invite you to participate in the webinar “Decent Work for Early Childhood Education Workers: Ten years after the adoption of the ILO Guidelines, where do we stand?” on 30 November at 15:00 CET until 16:30 CET (Brussels time).

A recent EI study revealed that Early Childhood Education (ECE) staff were among the education workers whose employment conditions had suffered most from the pandemic. Now it is underfunding and teacher shortages that are severely affecting staff in the sector.

During this webinar, a panel of experts from academia and organizations such as the ILO, UNESCO, the OECD and the Danish Union of Early Childhood and Youth Educators (BUPL) will look at the latest developments in the sector – particularly in terms of the status and working conditions of ECE staff – and examine the implementation of ILO guidelines and the ways in which they can help to address new trends.

The webinar will also provide an opportunity to discuss the results of the study analyzing the progress made in implementing the ILO Guidelines on the Promotion of Decent Work for Early Childhood Education Personnel and what they can contribute, as well as to exchange views on the data from the recently published International Barometer of the Health and Well-being of Education Personnel (I-BEST). This barometer provides important insights into the health and well-being of ECE staff in many countries including Argentina, Cameroon, Canada and France, among others.

You can register for the webinar by clicking here. Once you have registered, you will receive a link to the webinar. Interpretation will be provided in English, French and Spanish.

The team of the UNESCO Chair on Global Health & Education is delighted to invite you to its UK launch event. The launch event will take place on Tuesday 28 November 2023 from 14.00 until 19.30 GMT – in hybrid mode – at the University of Huddersfield and online. The UNESCO Chair is co-hosted by the University of Huddersfield in the UK and the University of Clermont Auvergne in France.  

Lifelong Learning and Literacy: Intersectoral Working in Health and Education to Support Wellbeing and Reduce Inequities

The programme for the launch event consists of:

REGISTER NOW

During the 13^th European Congress on Global Health, ECTMIH2023, we will organise an interactive session “Intersectoral working among education and health: from words into actions”. The session is organised by the UNESCO Chair Global Health & Education in collaboration with Maastricht University, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, JOGG and EuroHealthNet. The session will take place on 22 November 2023, from 17.15 – 18.45 CET.

Intersectoral working

The COVID pandemic has highlighted the importance of intersectoral working between health and education sectors. Yet they still have their own objectives and speak their own language. During this session we will look at the importance of intersectoral working between health and education and especially how this can be put into practice. We will share good examples of intersectoral working in school and community settings and on implementation in a co-creative way contributing to social change. Participants are invited to share their experiences. By the end of this session participants will have practical ideas to improve intersectoral collaboration in their own work.

Aim of the session

The aim of the session is to:

• Share experiences on intersectoral working among education and health sectors, in particular the health promoting school approach;
• Share experiences on how intersectoral working is put into practice in different regions and contexts (good practices);
• Share suggestions of structuring these initiatives to take them further.

Speakers

Speakers are:

• Goof Buijs, manager UNESCO Chair Global Health & Education
• Prof. Dr. Stef Kremers, professor of Health promotion, vice-dean Faculty of Health Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Netherlands
• Dr. Kathelijne Bessems, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health, Medicine & Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Netherlands
• Dr. Bonnie van Dongen, Assistant Professor, Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Patty Scholten, Manager Healthy Communities, JOGG, Netherlands
• Ingrid Stegeman, Programme Manager, EuroHealthNet

Do you want to join?

In case you would like to participate in the session “Intersectoral working among education and health: from words into actions”, you need to register for the ECTMIH2023 conference.

More information about ECTMIH2023

Registration ECTMIH2023