How can schools promote health and well-being through the curriculum in primary education?

The rates of obesity also known as excessive weight gain (Ogden and Flegal, 2010) in children are ever increasing due to many factors, a report published in 2015 by Public Health Wales showed that over 25% of four to five-year-old children in Wales are overweight or obese (NHS, 2015). The factors that are causing obesity are; lack of exercise at home and in school, bullying, genetic factors, lack of knowledge regarding nutrition and the ever-evolving world of technology and virtual reality plays a huge role in decreasing children’s motivation to play outside and stay active (Ross, Flynn and Pate, 2016; Xu and Xue, 2016). Sahoo et al (2015) states that although eating fatty foods can be the cause of obesity, “excessive sugar intake, increased portion size and steady decline in physical activity” are all contributing factors which can affect a child’s “physical health, social and emotional well-being and self-esteem” as well as impacting on the academic performance and their quality of life (Pulgaron, 2013; Sahoo et al., 2015; Rankin et al., 2016). Having said this, obesity clearly does not only have a physical detrimental impact on children, these issues can follow them through to adulthood (Freedman et al., 2007) if strategies are not implemented early enough and therefore it is imperative that schools are promoting the importance of ‘Health and Well-being’ in the early stages of the curriculum. Schools can promote good health through many aspects of the curriculum and these aspects will be highlighted throughout.

Michalos (2017) defines good ‘well-being’ or “eudaimonia” as, “living well and doing well”, “by enjoying goods of the mind…goods of the body…and external goods” and physical activity (PA) positively reinforces this. "Physical activity…is important for children’s growth and development and for their current and future health” (Chow, McKenzie and Louie, 2015, P. 39) and consists of “any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure” (Donnelly et al., 2016). Physical Education (PE) in schools is compulsory as part of the curriculum however, when I attended primary school I believe that there were negative attitudes towards PE and a subject which many teachers deemed insignificant and a waste of their academic time. It has become more accepted in todays primary education as Donaldson has introduced a new, reformed curriculum, this new curriculum includes many changes, but one key change is how the subjects are being interlinked and will no longer be taught in silo, therefore PE will now be known as ‘Health and Well-being’, aiming to tackle not only obesity but also relationships, sex education (Donaldson, 2015) and nutrition. Exercising for one hour per week in schools is simply not enough to become an overall “healthy, confident individual” (Donaldson, 2015, p.30), the implementation of the new curriculum will effectively, be achieving a more cross-curricula pedagogical approach (Donaldson, 2015).

“Schools are responsible for a large amount of contact time and have the potential to assist children in meeting their daily PA needs” (Department of Health and Human Services, 2010) and due to some children not having many opportunities to exercise outside of school, it is essential that children are given the opportunity to stay physically active whilst they are in school. Hills, Dengel and Lubans (2015) proposed that the attitudes towards physical activity (PA) are influenced by those around us; family, school and the community and therefore PA should not be limited to PE in schools, but children should be encouraged to take part before and after school, as well as during school breaks in extra curricula activities. To increase participation and motivation, captivating the children’s interests and giving them greater choice, will enable them to “benefit more from engaging in PA they enjoy” (Hills, Dengel and Lubans, 2015) and this occurs with higher quality experiences (NRC, 2009; Behrendt and Franklin, 2014). Having positive thoughts, feelings and emotions towards an activity allows for the children to become engrossed in it and ultimately enables them to gain a deeper understanding and improve their intrinsic motivation to better themselves (Parker and Lepper, 1993; Yang and Damasio, 2007; Mega, Ronconi and DeBenu, 2014). Skinner and Belmont (1993) suggests that the teachers behaviour towards an activity, whether that be positive or negative, is extremely important as it “provides (a) complimentary perspective” on the motivation of their students’, therefore the teachers’ passions should also be followed through as this will provide a positive ambience to work and learn in.

Nutrition is another very important aspect of a child’s health and it effects their physical and mental state of mind, for example if a child does not receive the appropriate nutrients throughout the day, their energy levels and brain activity can be affected, causing them to become lethargic, it can also have long term negative impacts on their growth and development (Prentice et al., 2006). Good nutrition can be taught in schools through cooking, gardening and tasting (Evans et al., 2012) and identifying foods, which can be an enjoyable and satisfying way to provide children with their five-a-day. Whilst the children are gardening fruit and vegetables and cooking their own meals, they are learning what foods are good for them to consume, how to prepare different foods and most importantly how to eat a balanced diet and in turn they will gain knowledge, a sense of independence and essentially develop social skills when interacting with other children and adults (Heim, Stang and Ireland, 2009; Bowen and Devine, 2011; Van der Horst, Ferrage, and Rytz, 2014). Taking responsibility for their eating habits and nutritional intake will allow for them to educate others, both adults and other children in hope that it may decrease the rates of obesity in the future, this in effect, will achieve one of Donaldson’s four purposes, which is preparing them “to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society” (Donaldson, 2015).

Lastly, technology can be an excellent way of promoting health and well-being. Although it can be a factor causing obesity, if used correctly it can also provide good knowledge and enjoyable experiences. During work-based placement, I observed a year one class partaking in a ‘five-a-day’ exercising activity, this activity consisted of a five-minute exercise video on YouTube containing fun movements imitating different sporting events; javelin, swimming, diving, running, shotput and more. The children really engaged in this activity as it was probably different from their usual PE lessons and as it was only a short video, they were able to place their full attention on the activity without becoming distracted or bored. This activity not only allowed the children to partake in exercise, but it is possible that it could have captivated an interest by drawing out a passion for one of the sporting events and although the children were simply imitating the sport, it may have been the only opportunity for them to attempt so many different sports and that in turn may have led to them joining extra curricula activities outside of school.

In conclusion, health and well-being is not solely one person’s responsibility, it is the responsibility of all those who are involved in the child’s life, that being their parents, school and community’s concern. According to Donaldson, physical education being taught in silo was simply not enough to promote healthy living and therefore revised the curriculum and made necessary changes, one of these changes being, renaming physical education to ‘Health and Well-being’. Health and well-being is not sought through physical activity (PA) alone but with a combination of good nutrition, adequate knowledge and appropriately used technology, with all of these factors involved, children of today will be given the opportunity to become “healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued member of society” (Donaldson, 2015) and  prepare them to “meet the needs of today and challenges of tomorrow” (Donaldson, 2015).   

References

Behrendt, M., and T. Franklin. (2014). “A Review of Research on School Field Trips and Their Value in Education.” International Journal of Environmental and Science Education 9 (3): 235–245.

Bowen, R. L., & Devine, C. M. (2011). “Watching a person who knows how to cook, you’ll learn a lot”. Linked lives, cultural transmission, and the food choices of Puerto Rican girls. Appetite, 56(2), 290–298. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2010.12.015, S0195-6663(10)00841-X [pii].

Chow, B.C., McKenzie, T.L. and Louie, L., (2015). Children’s physical activity and associated variables during preschool physical education. Advances in Physical Education, 5(1), p.39.

Donnelly, J.E., Hillman, C.H., Castelli, D., Etnier, J.L., Lee, S., Tomporowski, P., Lambourne, K. and Szabo-Reed, A.N., (2016). Physical activity, fitness, cognitive function, and academic achievement in children: a systematic review. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 48(6), p.1197.

Evans, C. E., Christian, M. S., Cleghorn, C. L., Greenwood, D. C., & Cade, J. E. (2012). Systematic review and meta-analysis of school-based interventions to improve daily fruit and vegetable intake in children aged 5 to 12 y. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 96(4), 889–901.

Freedman, D.S., Mei, Z., Srinivasan, S.R., Berenson, G.S. and Dietz, W.H., (2007). Cardiovascular risk factors and excess adiposity among overweight children and adolescents: the Bogalusa Heart Study. The Journal of pediatrics, 150(1), pp.12-17.

Heim, S., Stang, J., & Ireland, M. (2009). A garden pilot project enhances fruit and vegetable consumption among children. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 109, 1220–1226.

Hills, A.P., Dengel, D.R. and Lubans, D.R., (2015). Supporting public health priorities: recommendations for physical education and physical activity promotion in schools. Progress in cardiovascular diseases, 57(4), pp.368-374.

Human Services, (2000). Healthy People 2010 (Vol. 2). US Department of Health and Human Services.

Mega, C., Ronconi, L. and De Beni, R., (2014). What makes a good student? How emotions, self-regulated learning, and motivation contribute to academic achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 106(1), p.122.

Michalos, A.C., 2017. Education, happiness and wellbeing. In Connecting the Quality of Life Theory to Health, Well-being and Education (pp. 277-299). Springer, Cham.

National Research Council (2009). Learning science in informal environments: People, places, and pursuits. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

NHS, (2015). Report finds strong relationship between child obesity and deprivation. Available at: http://www.wales.nhs.uk/news/37502. (Accessed: 07/04/2018).

Ogden, C.L. and Flegal, K.M., (2010). Changes in terminology for childhood overweight and obesity. Age, 12(12).

Parker, L.E. and Lepper, M.R., (1992). Effects of fantasy contexts on children's learning and motivation: Making learning more fun. Journal of personality and social psychology, 62(4), p.625.

Prentice, A., Schoenmakers, I., Laskey, M.A., de Bono, S., Ginty, F. and Goldberg, G.R., (2006). Symposium on ‘Nutrition and health in children and adolescents’ Session 1: Nutrition in growth and development Nutrition and bone growth and development: A meeting of the Nutrition Society hosted by the Irish Section was held on 14–16 June 2006 at University College Cork, Cork, Republic of Ireland. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 65(4), pp.348-360.

Pulgarón, E.R., (2013). Childhood obesity: a review of increased risk for physical and psychological comorbidities. Clinical therapeutics, 35(1), pp.A18-A32.

Rankin, J., Matthews, L., Cobley, S., Han, A., Sanders, R., Wiltshire, H.D. and Baker, J.S., (2016). Psychological consequences of childhood obesity: psychiatric comorbidity and prevention. Adolescent health, medicine and therapeutics, 7, p.125.

Ross, S.E., Flynn, J.I. and Pate, R.R., (2016). What is really causing the obesity epidemic? A review of reviews in children and adults. Journal of sports sciences, 34(12), pp.1148-1153.

Sahoo, K., Sahoo, B., Choudhury, A.K., Sofi, N.Y., Kumar, R. and Bhadoria, A.S., (2015). Childhood obesity: causes and consequences. Journal of family medicine and primary care, 4(2), p.187.

Skinner, E.A. and Belmont, M.J., (1993). Motivation in the classroom: Reciprocal effects of teacher behavior and student engagement across the school year. Journal of educational psychology, 85(4), p.571.

van der Horst, K., Ferrage, A. and Rytz, A., (2014). Involving children in meal preparation. Effects on food intake. Appetite, 79, pp.18-24.

Xu, S. and Xue, Y., (2016). Pediatric obesity: Causes, symptoms, prevention and treatment. Experimental and therapeutic medicine, 11(1), pp.15-20.

Yang, M.H. and Damasio, A., (2007). We feel, therefore we learn: The relevance of affective and social neuroscience to education. Mind, brain, and education, 1(1), pp.3-10.