Handbook

Many in the health sector perceive educational settings as key spaces for public health initiatives. With this in mind, this subject critically examines the relationship between public health and educational settings, including in the Early Childhood Education and Care sector, and in schools. Firstly, it interrogates how the relationship between health education and public health policies and initiatives, are discursively shaped by historical, social, cultural and political contexts. To do this, a historical examination is undertaken, of the dominant discourses shaping public health initiatives in educational settings and health education, focusing on the Australian context. Secondly, this subject critically examines contemporary issues and debates surrounding public health policies and initiatives in educational settings, including examining the tensions between public health interventionist agendas and the educative agenda of educational settings. Thirdly, with the aim to both reflect on and connect public health work with the educative agenda of educational settings, this subject examines the principles underpinning contemporary health education. Included in this focus, is the importance of working respectfully and ethically with communities; adopting a Whole School Approach in schooling contexts; focusing on educative outcomes; taking a strengths-based approach; and adopting a socio-cultural critical inquiry approach which examines and acknowledges the socio-ecological factors and inequalities shaping the health and welling of individuals and communities.