(An item from the ISHN Member information service) The school health movement has focused on transforming schools through "whole school" strategies. As proponents, we would learn much from reading Issue #2, 2013 of Improving Schools, where the concept of "schoolwide pedagogies" is discussed in a special issue. There are several articles but this quote from the concluding article is quite revealing. "The term schoolwide pedagogy was once rarely heard and yet has now become a part of most discussions around school improvement. But what does it really mean and why is the presence of a schoolwide pedagogical framework important? Some would say that in their school the adoption of an authoritative approach such as Habits of Mind, Bloom’s Taxonomies or the Productive Pedagogies is a schoolwide pedagogical framework. To some extent they are, but what is often lacking is the intellectual and social capacity that is built through collective professional sharing and articulation of strongly held beliefs about contextually relevant teaching and learning practices. Without this sense of ownership, teacher adoption ends up being sporadic at best with some teachers paying only lip service to imposed quality frameworks". If this is the case for matters at the heart of the school (ie how to teach), then what can we expect for matters such as health, which are often seen as secondary? (unless we truly understand and commit to working within schools in a sustained manner) Read more>>

(An item from the ISHN Member information service) Knowing that there is often too much content to cover in a health/personal-social development curriculum, health advocates often suggest that other subjects be used to convey health messages. This is an attractive idea but a qualitative study from singapore, reported in Volume 31 of Teaching & Teacher Education, reports that implementing an integrated curriculum strategy may be difficult for teachers. The authors report that "In this qualitative study, we examined eleven Singapore teachers' conceptions of teaching and learning as related to their experiences implementing integrated curriculum. Interviews revealed that the teachers' conceptions of integration spanned the spectrum of ideas found in relevant literature. Further, although participants saw benefits to integration, including greater engagement of learners, they also spoke of significant obstacles to its implementation, such as teachers' own perceived lack of subject knowledge and a misalignment with the assessment system. The findings, while echoing previous studies conducted in various countries, highlight implementation difficulties in settings where high stake examinations and disciplinary-based curriculum prevail.". Read more>>

(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in Volume 30, 2013 of the Journal of Teaching & Teacher Education explores how the micro=politics of the school, particularly the staffroom, where teachers spend much of their non-teaching time, as a key factor in teacher development, particularly their professional identity. The article examines the effect of the staffroom on beginning health/PE teachers. The authors suggest that "Staffroom occupants shaped situations which beginning teachers encountered. Micropolitical practices reflected personal and professional interests and knowledge. The staffroom context had the capacity to [re]shape beginning teacher learning."   Read more>>

(An item from the ISHN Member information service) Three articles in the June 2013 issue of the Journal fo School Health help us to understand how teacher concerns, their perceived efficacy and their normative beliefs will determine their responses to student bullying. The first article describes how teachers in conflict prone urban schools employed a number of strategies associated with resilience, such as prayer and seeking support from family and colleagues, but also engaged in some avoidance strategies, such as emotional withdrawal and avoiding difficult students. The second study of reported that perceived threat and efficacy were associated with teachers' likelihood of intervening. For less experienced teachers, perceived efficacy, but not perceived threat, was strongly associated with likelihood of intervening. For more experienced teachers, both perceived threat and perceived efficacy were significantly associated. The third article notes that teacher normative beliefs about sexual harassment reduced the likelihood of intervention. Read more>>

(An item from ISHN Member information service) An article in the March 2013 issue of the Journal of Physical education, Recreation & Dance notes that negative early student experiences with PE and sports can last a lifetime and affect their levels of physical activity. The researchers report on "a survey that asked 293 students about recollections from their childhood or youth physical education and sport experiences revealed that participants who had been picked or chosen last for a team had a significant reduction in physical activity later in life. Long recognized as an "inappropriate" instructional practice by NASPE, "captains picking teams" still occurs in some physical education and sport settings." Read more>>

(An item from ISHN Member information service) A theory about teacher behaviours in implementing programs, the Planning Realistic Intervention Implementation and Maintenance by Educators, is used to explain a teacher's use of a behaviour support program for students. The case study is reported in an article in Issue #1, 2013 of School Psychology Quarterly. The authors report that "We propose that to transform student outcomes through evidence-based practice, conceptualization of mediators' intervention implementation must move beyond quantification of discrete intervention steps implemented. Intervention implementation requires behavior change and thus can be conceptualized as an adult behavior change process. The purpose of this article is to illustrate how adult behavior change theory may inform how intervention implementation is conceptualized, facilitated, and supported. An empirically supported theory of adult behavior change from health psychology, the Health Action Process Approach, and how it has informed development of PRIME (Planning Realistic Intervention Implementation and Maintenance by Educators), a system of supports to facilitate mediators' implementation of school-based interventions, are introduced". Read More>>

(An item from ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #1, 2013 of the International Journal of Education Development uses the \\'Capability Approach\', developed by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, as well as a realist review to assess and explain the quality of teacher practices in Tanzania. The authors suggest that the apparent gap between perceptions (teachers are nor performing well enough vs the teachers don't have enough resources) The authors conclude that " By unpacking these components of teachers’ behaviours, and understanding the underlying structures, mechanisms, tendencies and counter-tendencies that produce certain empirically apprehended actions, we can start to see entry points in which measures to improve teachers’ professional performance could be seeded. First, interventions should acknowledge teachers’ causal mechanisms because these are the valued beings and doings that are central to the lives that teachers want to lead; if interventions could aid in the achievement of these functionings, they would also aid in the reduction of some ‘deficient’ behaviours that are associated with their constraint. Secondly, interventions need to account for and address dominant counter-tendencies (or constraining conversion factors) that teachers face, as this will ground strategies in context, provide pragmatic solutions, and convince teachers that these measures are worth trying. Without acknowledgement of causal mechanisms or counter-tendencies, it is highly likely that technocratic fixes that attempt to alter certain criticised practices will not be sustained, as teachers will revert to old ways. The reason being, these criticised ‘old ways’ are grounded in the valued functionings and conversion factors that consistently generate much of teachers’ behaviour."  Read more>>

(An item from ISHN Member information service) Adequately preparing teachers to teach in urban schools is an ageless challenge for teacher education programs. An article in Issue #1, 2013 of Education & Urban Society offers some insights into the qualities that need to be promoted among teachers aspiring or assigned to work in those schools. The fact that a minority of these new teachers felt ready to "make it their own" practice is revealing. The authors note that "This replication study represents an analysis of 47 exit portfolios of students enrolled in an urban teacher education program. Portfolios were analyzed to determine the degree to which students integrated concepts related to teaching in urban schools: asset/deficit perspectives, connections with families, social justice, high expectations for student learning, and contextualized teaching and learning. The portfolios fall into three groups along a continuum from “awareness” to “trying things out” to “making it their own.” With 30%, 51%, and 19% falling into each group respectively, the data are interpreted in relationship to faculty development and the challenges of scaffolding preservice teachers" Read more>

(An item from ISHN Member information service) n article in Issue #6, 2012 of Environmental Education Research discusses how teacher reflections in a small case study on implementing a curriculum on education for sustainable development can help to understand the implementation process and ongoing teacher concerns. The author notes that It examines what the teachers learned about effective pedagogy from undertaking a systematic study of their own practice in ESD/GCE-based topics, and it highlights the development of their own understanding of, and values about the place of ESD/GCE in the curriculum. Findings emerging from the study were that critical reflection on their work gave the teachers the confidence to adopt the more learner-centred pedagogy of ESD/GCE, and that teachers, too, were able to learn/benefit from the participation in ESD/GCE activities. Read more. 

(An item from ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #4, 2012 of Educational Research presents a theory-based explanation as to how experienced teachers develop professionally. The authors note that : "The review is framed by theories within the constructivist paradigm. From this perspective, knowledge is perceived as the construction of meaning and understanding within social interaction. The social surroundings are seen as decisive for how the individual learns and develops. It is argued that courses and lectures, or ‘times for telling’, and teachers’ development of a metacognitive attitude are decisive factors for teachers’ learning within a constructivist frame of reference." The review of articles shows that both individual and organisational factors impact teachers’ learning. Teacher co-operation has importance for how they develop, and some of the teachers can lead such learning activities themselves. Moreover, a positive school culture with a good atmosphere and understanding of teachers’ learning, in addition to co-operation with external resource persons, may impact the professional development of teachers. The article concludes with the reflection that learning in school is the best arena for further development of teachers. Read more. 

(An item from ISHN Member information service) An article in issue #5, 2012 of the International Journal of Educational Policy and Leadership notes that teachers and administrators had some differences in their perceptions about bullying. Teachers felt more strongly that educators played an important role in bullying prevention; however, administrators felt more comfortable communicating with the parents of bullying victims. Interestingly, teachers were significantly more likely than administrators to perceive a need for increased bullying prevention training. Significant gender differences concerning the inclusion of bullying prevention in school curriculum were also found. Read more. 

(An item from ISHN Member information service) Several articles in Issue #8, 2012 of Teaching & Teacher Education continue that journal's tradition of describing teachers, student teachers and their norms, beliefs and practices. These offer excellent insights for advocates of health and social development programs in schools. Read more. 

(An item from ISHN Member information service)  An article in Issue #3, 2012 of Pastoral care in Education examines the support available for teachers of students with life-limiting diseases and conditions. The authors state that: An international literature search produced 23 papers published between 2005 and July 2010 that concerned children with life-limiting illness in relation to education in mainstream schools. The analysis identified that the needs of children with life-limiting illnesses are not being well met, and there appears to be little evidence of educational support for teachers. The paper concludes that schools need to work with both the medical and social models of health/disability in order to meet the needs of children with life-limiting illness. There is some consensus that the way forward needs to include multidisciplinary working within an ecological approach that supports home, schools and the health services working together. Only one paper reported an evaluation of such an intervention. There is a need for more research, evaluation and dissemination about the experience of living with a life-limiting illness in mainstream schools and related interventions, and for this to inform professional education and the coordination of education, health and home systems. Read more..

(An item taken from the daily/weekly/monthly ISHN Member information service)  An article in Issue #8, 2012 of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry reports on an analysis of teacher interactions with about 9000 sets of twins. Internalizing and externalizing problem behavior at school can have major consequences for a child and is predictive for disorders later in life. Teacher ratings are important to assess internalizing and externalizing problems at school. Teacher ratings of 3,502 7-year-old, 3,134 10-year-old and 2,193 12-year-old twin pairs were analyzed with structural equation modeling. About 60% of the twin pairs were rated by the same teacher. Twin correlations and the heritability of internalizing and externalizing behavior were estimated, separately for pairs rated by the same and different teachers. Socioeconomic status and externalizing behavior at age 3 were included as covariates. Twin correlations and heritability estimates were higher when twin pairs were in the same class and rated by the same teacher than when pairs were rated by different teachers. These differences could not be explained by twin confusion or rater bias. Exposure to different teachers during childhood may affect the heritability of internalizing and externalizing behavior at school. This finding points to gene–environment interaction and is important for the understanding of childhood problem behavior. In addition, it could imply an opportunity for interventions at school.  Read more..

(Posted from the ISHN information service for its members)The articles in a new journal, the  Health Education Teaching Techniques Journal, provide a unique resource for teachers. Each issue of the journal presents research-based lesson plans that include the relevant activities and support materials as well as an explanation of the theory or behavioral basis for the lesson plan. Here is a list of the lessons that are explained in Issue #2, 2012: (1) Alcohol Prevention Letters: Creating a Circle of Support, (2) Let’s Talk about G-E-R-M-S: Educating Elementary School Students about Germs and Hand Sanitation |(3) Making Decisions: Paired-Comparison Analysis (4) Exploring the Challenges of HIV: Developing Compassionate Attitudes through Role Play (5) When Friends Self-Mutilate (6) Teaching Food Safety. Read more.