A Pre-Service Teacher’s Induction to Comprehensive School Health

Most likely if you are reading this, you are already a seasoned teacher in the field, passionate about seeing children and youth become healthy in mind, body and spirit. Good news, there are more teachers coming your way with the same passion for Comprehensive School Health! Pre-service teachers at the University of Calgary currently engage in learning and discussion regarding Comprehensive School Health (CSH). Each seminar, our cohort discussed the connections between education and health—mental, emotional and physical.

Designing, participating and engaging in a university level course specifically around Comprehensive School Health (CSH) shows the directive shift and importance of the education system taking health seriously. As a pre-service teacher, having a course requirement to learn about CSH is a statement about the value of health moving beyond just physical education teachers.  CSH is a responsibility from all education partners, including: admin, teachers, parents, community stakeholders and students, to think about, and act on, what it means to be healthy. Thinking about positive steps towards mental wellness, physical wellness, school culture and the four pillars of CSH, gives me the flexibility and tenacity to bring these into my teaching practices.

When I envision myself as a health champion, I picture a teacher who incorporates social-emotional learning in classroom and provides a space for the conditions where students can learn, thrive and grow as citizens in society. Before embarking on the journey of becoming a teacher, in working front-line with adults and youth experiencing homelessness, addictions and mental health issues, I saw the extremes of unchecked trauma and mental illness. I encountered stories from young adults (20-24) who had expressed how difficult school was, and how they felt no one cared for them or believed in them. The more I worked in the front-line, the more I felt the need to work with youth in schools in order to foster resiliency skills for young people to become healthier adults. Teaching provides the avenue for ongoing realistic change. It is encouraging to have Comprehensive School Health education for future teachers and students, as it is clear that students can only learn when they feel safe, valued, heard and healthy.

The CSH course provided me with further inspiration to foster healthy attitudes and behaviours with students. In front line work, we often talked about how we model healthy attachment models for our clients who have experienced many adverse experiences in their childhood, whether they are aware, it is powerful for people to have healing adult figures in their lives to help model physically and emotionally healthy lives, and responses to stressors. Comprehensive school health (CSH) is needed as “research has shown [CSH] is an effective way to enhance [the] linkage improving both health and educational outcomes and encouraging healthy behaviours that last a lifetime” (Joint Consortium for Health, n.d., p. 1). This course has continued to solidify my ideas in incorporating holistic education that goes beyond academic growth. I often think about the young adults I worked with who were homeless, and wonder if their well-being was considered in a comprehensive way, could their present reality be different? This course, coupled with my experiences, solidify my belief that healthy behaviours and attitudes towards students will provide the conditions for them to feel safe to explore health themselves.

In many ways this course has validated my goals as a burgeoning teacher, to be a champion for my students' social-emotional health. I truly believe that if students can learn how to gain self-efficacy skills and self-regulation skills then they will be able to be better equipped with to deal with anxiety and recover from stressful situations as the Canadian Education Association (n.d.) has found. The CSH courses were comprehensive in providing an understanding of body image, mental health, toxic stress and other areas. However, I believe one area that I would like to future explore as a teacher is how to manage teacher well-being. One of the surprising ways the course has impacted me is hearing the level of stress and anxiety from fellow colleagues. When teachers are considering many layers of teaching and learning, curriculum, program of studies, CSH, when do teachers have the time to focus on their own mental health and be champions for themselves? I believe that in order to truly teach students how to be healthy and to have a growth mindset, I will need to be critically reflective and take the time to foster my own health. I am mindful of burnout in education. While CSH addresses health for students, considering attrition rates in teachers, whether it be from stress, mismanagement of time, disillusionment with education, mental health etc., a future for myself as a teacher is to take time in understanding teacher well-being.

In the future, I hope to be a health champion for my students and to be a champion for my colleagues and peers, as life is increasingly hectic and teaching is busy. As I continue to teach, I want to balance the stressors in life but also find joy, resilience, and self-growth in order to be a health champion for my colleagues and students.

References

Canadian Education Association (n.d.). How can we best support student mental wellbeing?

Retrieved from http://www.cea-ace.ca/publication/facts-education-how-can-webest-

support-student-mental-well-being

Joint Consortium for School Health. (n.d.) What is comprehensive school health?.       Retrieved  from http://www.jcsh-cces.ca/images/What_is_Comprehensive_School_Health_-_2-  pager_-_July_2016.pdf.

Submitted by: Sarah Lee, University of Calgary, Faculty of Education Student

Ready for Recess?

Submitted by: Heather Rootsaert, HPEC Edmonton Co-Regional Representative

Hello fellow HPECers! As Alberta endures what feels like the longest record low temperature streak in forever, forcing students to stay inside for recess after recess, I thought it timely to blog about the importance of recess and share some resources and ideas of what other Canadians are doing to support it.

In relation to schools, recess is a temporary break(s) from the usual school work that occurs throughout the school day. Regardless of the temperature outside or other circumstances like student behaviour, staff members and students of all ages need these regularly scheduled breaks throughout the day, everyday. So why have many AB schools abolished the afternoon recess and/or why are teachers still “punishing” student behaviour by taking the much needed recess break away?

When we talk about the importance of a Comprehensive School Health (CSH) approach and spreading Physical Literacy throughout our schools, we have to look beyond what is happening solely in the classroom. CSH requires that the whole school community be invested & involved and Physical Literacy takes into account four domains of a person: physical, social, emotional and cognitive.

Therefore, recess is a significant piece of the pie that should not be overlooked. Recess, like Physical Education, is so much more than just the physical. We cannot separate the physical domain from the social or the cognitive or the emotional domains. Children (people) are not wired that way!  Recess is an essential break that can provide a short distraction for children, help break up long periods of sedentary time, enhance children’s development in all four of the domains of physical literacy and provide children with the benefits of being outdoors. I would strongly argue that these benefits can be for big kids, adults, too!

If you haven’t heard about what Bruderheim, AB is trying out this year as far as recess, I encourage you to click on this link - Stretching Out Recess: One Alberta school doubled its breaks and is finding more focused kids

Also, the Canadian Public Health Association has just launched this article on recess and outdoor play that has some useful information as well as additional references and links to check out.

Lastly, for now, the province of Quebec put out this resource in 2017 which also has some great advocacy points and suggestions for schools Recess: An Important Aspect to School Success

All the best as we, hopefully, head into spring in the next few weeks! Who is ready for recess? We ALL should be!