Innovative European Project Reports Changes in Ecology of School, Student Learning about Activity & Eating

(An item from the ISHN Member information service)  Shape Up – a school-community approach to influencing the determinants of a healthy and balanced growing up (www.shapeupeurope.net) was a three-year project aimed at the development, implementation and assessment of an innovative approach to health promotion and health education concerning overweight and obesity in children and young people. The researchers report that ' Shape Up demonstrated that young people can be guided to successfully bring about health-promoting changes at the school and community level. For example, these chnages included healthier food consumption at school, new forms of physical activity, and increased interest, motivation and ability among children and young people to deal with health issues. More specifically, Shape Up has proven to be effective in initiating and bringing about health-promoting changes in the ecology of the school, including improvements at the school, parent, community/municipal and individual student levels. 

Shape Up – a school-community approach to influencing the determinants of a healthy and balanced growing up (www.shapeupeurope.net) was a three-year project (2006-2008) aimed at the development, implementation and assessment of an innovative approach to health promotion and health education concerning overweight and obesity in children and young people. Core funding for Shape Up was provided by the European Commission Directorate-General for Health and Consumer Affairs. Participants in the project were local authorities and schools from 19 cities in 19 EU countries. The age range of children and young people participating in Shape Up was 4 -16 years. A number of schools (at nursery, primary and secondary level) from each participating city were involved (see Table 1 below). In total, 73 schools, 2,300 pupils and 140 teachers participated actively in the project.

The purpose of this report is to provide a summary of the relevant project documentation, with a view to systematically reviewing and discussing the lessons learnt, and to suggest recommendations concerning future practice and policy in the area of preventing childhood overweight and obesity.

Shape Up has proven to be effective in initiating and bringing about health-promoting changes in the following determinants related to healthy eating and physical activity:

• At the School level:
  - School health policies, School environment, facilities and food offer (more opportunities for healthy eating and physical activity)
  - Educational strategies and contents in health education and physical education classes
• At the Community level:
  - Physical environment, facilities and food offer in the community surrounding the schools (more opportunities for healthy eating and physical activity)
  
• Partnerships:
  Sustainable partnerships between schools, municipalities, city councils and other local stakeholders in the area of prevention and health promotion
  Focused cooperation with parents and extended families to encourage and sustain healthier choices
• Individual level: Children’s and young people’s sense of ownership, motivation and empowerment in terms of dealing with the issues of healthy eating and physical activity in their own lives and in their surroundings Parental awareness and motivation related to dealing with the issues of healthy eating and physical activity in their family lives and in their surroundings

The findings of the report include:

• The project documentation demonstrates that Shape Up has been successful to a large degree in providing the necessary preconditions for project implementation in diverse European contexts and conditions. The framework was clearly defined and supported with printed and online materials to ensure a common approach, and was sufficiently flexible to allow for contextual adjustments and the incorporation of local needs and priorities. The establishment of the LGP in each of the participating cities, the coordination of the LPG by the LC, the division of work between the LC and LF, the locally tailored training sessions of the Shape Up staff and the established links among schools and different sectors within local authorities were all effective
  
• It is evident from the documentation of the project  that the Shape Up approach, consisting of genuine pupil participation, the IVAC pedagogical strategy, and school-community collaboration, proved to be effective in involving and enabling pupils to work together with competent adults on real-life problems related to healthy eating and physical activity. Furthermore, the Shape Up approach proved successful in bringing schools and local authorities together with a view to establishing new partnerships and influencing a number of obesogenic environmental factors at school, local community and/or family level.
• The questionnaire administered to the Shape Up local facilitators (LF) and local coordinators (LC) reported that: (1)  77% of respondents stated that pupils increased their learning capacities, (2) that Shape Up was effective in fostering pupils’ abilities to act upon health at school and community levels, (3) 69% of respondents stated that pupils’ eating habits had improved, and 85% stated that pupils’ physical activity patterns had improved.
  
  
  

Another key aspect of the Shape Up approach was the Investigation-Vision-Action-Change (IVAC) pedagogical model. The project documentation showed that pupils were guided by the adults to investigate the conditions related to healthy eating and physical activity at school and local community level; they developed creative alternative solutions to a number of problems identified in their investigations, and they took specific actions to bring about health-promoting changes in these conditions. The opinions about the IVAC model stated by the LFs and LCs in the questionnaire show that they found it valuable and useful for structuring pupil participation. 



The third dimension of the Shape Up approach is school-community collaboration. 85% of local coordinators (N=26) stated that Shape Up was successful in involving the school community.  85% of respondents reported that the city council was involved in Shape Up activities. All the LCs and LFs stated that parents had been involved (Table 21), and 48% found the collaboration with parents very fruitful while 40% reported that it was somewhat fruitful.  


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