Health Education – syllabuses, methods and results in the secondary school

Abstract

The fight against many diseases will not bring the expected results if human beings do not acquire the appropriate health-related knowledge. It allows people to undertake a number of preventive actions to avoid falling ill and to minimize the impact of diseases. From the very early age, people learn the principles of personal hygiene and how to take care of their own safety, which in the future will prevent them from many dangerous diseases and will help them maintain good health. In schools, a very important role is played by the classes conducted in the range of the first aid since they supply students not only with the knowledge in this field, but also with some practical skills. They allow, if necessary, to undertake a quick action, often the action that saves someone’s life. Health Education should be an integral part of the school education in all school types. For that reason, ‘the basic work’ is very important; such work focuses on repeating certain behavioural patterns so as to take care of the physical and mental health. It should be started at the very young age. Together with the development of children and young people, the health-related contents should be improved, and should be made suitable for the age and needs of young people. Still, the realisation of Health Education is essential. However, “is it always realized by Biology teachers to such extent as they would like it to be taught themselves?” To answer this question, research was conducted in seven upper secondary schools situated in Kielce. It appeared that the realisation of Health Education is made difficult due to the lack of the independent and accessible syllabuses of Health Education and due to an insufficient number of hours for its realisation. Varied extent to which students are interested in the subject matter requires the employment of the most interesting methods to discuss the contents. To improve the effectiveness, the health-related issues should be considered as a separate school subject realised by some teachers who would have their personal theme range to cover, according to their qualifications.