The Ideology of Health Education in Schools

This paper examines the dominant themes which underlie many of the health education materials used in schools, and explores whether these are the most appropriate if health education is to make a significant contribution to either children's health or their education.

The overall approach to health education is identified as highly individualistic in its emphasis on individual responsibilities, attributes and skills necessary for achieving health. Contradictions, distortions and gaps inherent in this model are revealed. These contribute to identifying this kind of health education as an ideology, which serves least the needs and interests of those children who are likely to experience the greatest ill‐health.

The ways in which this approach is inappropriate for schoolchildren are illustrated by a case study, which compares the drinking experiences of a group of children with the alcohol education materials designed for them.

To conclude, improvements to both health education for slow learners and more generally to health education in schools are discussed. These include the development of an approach which is both child‐centred, and critical in locating individual choices about health within the social, economic and political contexts of local communities and wider society.

     

BASIS OF FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA

We give below the main elements of the programme on which the long‐term future development of higher education in Czechoslovakia will be based.

This information was specially written for the Bulletin by Professor Jiri M#akeri?ka, director of the Research Institute for Engineering studies in Prague, who is also a CEPES liaison officer.     

Teacher‐training in People's Poland

The goal of teacher education in Poland is to provide all teachers with initial training at the same (higher education) level, but until this goal is achieved, a variety of institutions and standards will prevail.

Rapid expansion in the provision of schooling has kept up the demand for teachers, and there is still a shortage situation to which a full response cannot be made at university level, so that two‐year courses must persist for some time. Different Ministries will continue to be responsible.

The author provides a detailed analysis of the content of initial training; correct pedagogic induction is regarded as highly important, though a satisfactory allocation of time has yet to be reached. This problem is recognised by both Ministries responsible for teacher training, and important experimental work is under way.

In‐service training is highly important, both school‐based and externally provided; the various agencies are described. The training is available up to and including Doctoral level.

Many studies have been carried out of teachers and teacher‐training, and these help with the identification of current problems. These problems are frankly identified by the author, who offers a view of the directions to be followed.

Mieczyslaw Pecherski is Professor of Education at the University of Warsaw and Secretary of the Pedagogic Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences.     

Alternative education on Prince Edward Island: a hybrid of ‘mainstream’ and special education

Alternative education programmes have acted as a disciplinary practice used by schools in Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada, as a response to providing students, especially those identified with challenging behaviours, who do not fit into ‘mainstream’ schools.

This article highlights the emergence of alternative education in PEI and brings to light the complexities underpinning how a child with challenging behaviour is viewed. Through the use of Foucauldian genealogical analysis and critical discourse analysis, this research centres on the discourse of ‘alternative education’ and problematises how alternative education programmes have been put in place as a solution to the problem of the child with challenging behaviour in ‘mainstream’ schools as constituted in the 1990s in PEI, Canada.

Using data generated from educational policies, government documents, and interviews with educators who worked in alternative placements and practitioners who worked with students identified as having problematic behaviour, I propose that alternative education programmes are hybrid programmes emerging from an overlapping of understanding from ‘mainstream’ education and ‘special education’.     

Teacher Education in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

Teacher education in Czechoslovakia is part of a unified national provision of education; this covers in‐service as well as pre‐service training. The basis is that of training at Higher education level followed by life‐long upgrading.

The Marxist‐Leninist view is that the quality of the teacher is central to the educational process. Consequently, the initial and in‐service training of the teacher are of paramount importance, and the Czechoslovak system aims at an integrated approach to the entire process. In this process, acquisition of ideological, as well as professional, maturity, is seen as essential. Equally, the teacher must master his chosen discipline (s) in the scientific sense.

Additionally, it is important that the teacher be able to participate actively in the community—in, for example, family education, health care and concern for the environment.

Against this background of goals, the author outlines the Czechoslovak institutional provision for initial training, conditions for enrolment and the process of obtaining a post, before providing an in‐depth examination of the country's provision of in‐service education. A final section emphasises the position of the teacher in society, and specifically in socialist society. The teacher is, quite simply, a key figure and teacher education has to be built around this fact.

Svatopluk S. Petrá?ek is Professor of Education and Director of the European Centre of the Charles University for Further Education of Teachers.     

On defining distance education

Four generally accepted definitions of distance education are analysed and from them six components of a comprehensive definition are chosen. The forms of education that are considered to fall within the concept of distance education as outlined are considered from the point of view of choice of medium, institutional type and didactic model. Various forms of education that bear some similarities to distance education but are not to be identified with it are described. The term ‘distance education’ is proposed as the most satisfactory solution to the problem of terminology.

The term ‘distance education’ covers the various forms of study at all levels which are not under the continuous, immediate supervision of tutors present with their students in lecture rooms or on the same premises, but which, nevertheless, benefit from the planning, guidance and tuition of a tutorial organisation.

(Holmberg,1977:9)

Distance education is education which either does not imply the physical presence of the teacher appointed to dispense it in the place where it is received or in which the teacher is present only on occasion or for selected tasks.

(Loi 71.556 du 12 juillet 1971)

Distance teaching/education (Fernunterricht) is a method of imparting knowledge, skills and attitudes which is rationalised by the application of division of labour and organisational principles as well as by the extensive use of technical media, especially for the purpose of reproducing high quality teaching material which makes it possible to instruct great numbers of students at the same time wherever they live. It is an industrialised form of teaching and learning.

(Peters, 1973:206)

Distance teaching may be defined as the family of instructional methods in which the teaching behaviours are executed apart from the learning behaviours, including those that in a contiguous situation would be performed in the learner's presence, so that communication between the teacher and the learner must be facilitated by print, electronic, mechanical or other devices.

(Moore, 1973:664)     

Interaction in distance education — a case study: Teaching biology at two rural schools

There are many instances where distance education for children is in a state of upheaval and change. This is particularly true of Australia and, as earlier reports indicate, of Canada. Central planners often have abandoned the old ‘correspondence schools’ and established ‘open access’ centres; central schools have been de‐centralised; correspondence stuthes are offered to children in city schools; isolated children attend ‘classes’ vastly different from their old ‘School of the Air’ classes; etc. Some of these changes are the marks of progress; the quality of other changes is debatable.

This account is that of one country teacher operating in northern South Australia where distance education has now changed to be offered, Statewide, by a series of open access schools and has also been regionalised to be offered at the initiative of Education Department Regional Centres with a broad responsibility for education of children in their region. The article makes no pretence to being considered as ‘international research literature’ — some will question whether or not it is even distance education. It is being published at my request.

The teacher functions in an areaof small country towns 50 km apart and with 500 or so people. Not too much further north, into sparsely‐watered country, the towns are likely to have 50 or so people and are up to 500 km apart!

What the paper does highlight is that there are professional people ‘out there’ who see themselves as having a stake in distance education. Central administrators and those who regard themselves as scholars in distance education are only a part of the personnel in distance education.

Ed.     

FIRST MEETING OF THE STANDING CONFERENCE ON UNIVERSITY PROBLEMS

There are a number of international organizations or bodies, which create a framework for international co‐operation in higher education in the European region. (In some cases such co‐operation may involve only some of these countries, while in other instances it may cut across the outer boundaries of the European region).

In 1978 a new organization was created by the Council of Europe's Standing Conference on University Problems (CC‐PU) whose terms of reference are: “as a committee of experts under the authority of the new Council for Cultural Co‐operation (CDCC):

• to organize or encourage cooperation among European nations in the field of higher education and research;

• to propose activities to the CDCC for inclusion in the annual programme of activities;

• to promote relations among European universities and institutions

  of higher education and research”.

The first meeting of CC‐PU was held from 20 to 21 December 1978 in Strasbourg. Professor Dominique Rivier, Rector of the University of Lausanne was elected as its Chairman and as its Vice‐chairman, Professor Paul Sabourin from the Cabinet du Ministre aux Universites (France).

The following information concerns issues discussed during the first meeting of the Conference; these were the Council's Cultural Co‐operation (CDCC) activities in promoting student mobility in the countries of the European Community3 and interrelations between employment and training.     

INGENIEURHOCHSCHULEN IN THE GDR ‐ ENGINEERING INSTITUTES WITH CLOSE INTERRELATIONS BETWEEN EDUCATION,RESEARCH AND PRODUCTION

Oreated ten years ago, "Ingenieurhochschulen” have already acquired considerable experience with regard to relations between education, research and production. They have also become an important component of the GDR's higher education system and training institutions for highly qualified manpower for industry and agriculture.

In this context we present an article written for “Higher Education in Europe” by Professor Eeinhard Gotimev, Rector of the Engineering Institute in Mittweida (GDR).     

ADMINISTRATION STRUCTURE AND MANAGEMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN FRANCE

The design and management of higher education systems are important factors in discussions on planning organization and financing of higher education.

We present below information on the administration structure and management of the French higher education system based on part of the study “Systems of Higher Education: France” written by Professor Alain Bienaymé of the University of Paris‐IX Dauphine, which was sponsored by the International Council for Educational Development (ICED).     

Between Tradition and Progress: Oldenburg University's Model Plan for Comprehensive Teacher Training

Since early 1974, a pilot project for integrated teacher training has been in progress at Oldenburg University. This is currently the only extensive teacher training reform which exist in the German Federal Republic.

All plans for this integrated training program are designed to provide training normally encompassed by the traditional two‐stage programm.

The integrated training program includes:

- studies in the areas of education and social science;

- studies in two major subjects which are later to be taught at school;

- practical studies and activities.

The new model leads to the following degrees:

- nine semesters of study for a Certificate of Qualification for primary and lower‐level secondary school;

- eleven semesters for a Certificate of Qualification for higher‐level secon dary school and the education of exceptional children.

Theoretic training in major subject areas and related didactic training as well as education and social studies take place chiefly in the form of projects. A basic assumption is that interdisciplinary projects which are practice‐ and problemoriented permit a highly desirable integration of theory and practice on the whole.

In the project, contact teachers are an essential link between field practice at school and academic training at the university. Contact teachers are under contact to the university for an extended period of time (generally three years). In place of remunation, their teaching loads are reduced by ten hours per week.

In 1978/79 the project will be put to the test as the first generation of students prepares for State Board Examinations.     

The mentor role in individualized education at Empire State College

This paper discusses the role of mentors in individualized learning at Empire State College, New York State. The discussion implicitly questions roles and procedures in distance education.

This individualized learning programme is defined and illustrated. The components of the role of mentor are likewise defined and illustrated. Then the implications of being a mentor working with individual students are spelt out as they illuminate the relationships of mentors in academia.

The conclusion is offered that the mentor's commitment to his/her students is an exhibition of his/her fundamental commitment to a philosophical stance in education which surmounts primary loyalty to one's academic faculty.

The final whimsical question is whether or not individualized learning and distance education are compatible or conflicting.     

Teacher Education in Denmark

The paper describes the national roots of Danish teacher education, its position as being regulated by parliamentary legislation, and lists the types of institutions giving teacher education for various school forms.

It concentrates on teacher education for the main school, Primary and lower Secondary, age range 6‐16, which is given in colleges of education, whose entrance qualifications are the same as those of universities.

It goes on to describe the legal basis and practical functioning of this type of teacher education, giving information about overall aims and objectives, and curricula in the concurrent Danish system. The democratic agents regulating the education on the local as well as national level are described. Subsequently, it describes the relationship between theory and practice, and after this Danish teacher education is placed in the European picture.

Finally, the paper describes aspects of Danish teacher education as seen from the writer's position as subject area manager for English.     

RECENT TRENDS AND CURRENT PROBLEMS IN USA HIGHER EDUCATION

In the following article, Professor John D. Millett, Vice‐President of the USA Academy of Educational Development, points out major trends and problems of higher education in the United States, especially in the context of structural economic changes. Many issues discussed in this article will also effect American higher education in the 1980s.

The article is based on a paper Professor Millett presented at the International Seminar on Efficiency of Higher Education (Nieborow, 25‐28 September 1979), (Editor's Note: In No.1, January‐March 1980 of “Higher Education in Europe” other papers delivered at this meeting were presented, as well as the summary of the seminar's discussions.)     

CREATION OF A CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL CO‐OPERATION AND SERVICES AT THE OPEN UNIVERSITY

During the late 1960s the United Kingdom was one of many countries which faced a potential educational crisis arising from a growing demand for post‐secondary education linked with inadequate resources for its conventional provision.

“Distance learning” techniques, providing an alternative form of study based on multi‐media methods outside formal educational systems, have emerged in response to this new demand.

Within the sector of higher education the Open University of the United Kingdom is one of the most comprehensive distance learning systems.

Many requests have been made to the University for information on distance education and for advice and assistance in establishing similar ventures elsewhere. In response to these developments the University Senate has created recently a Centre for International Co‐operation and Services (CICS).

We give below information on the main functions of this Centre within the framework of the Open University activities.     

STAFF DEVELOPMENT OF UNIVERSITY TEACHERS IN USSR

Staff development of university teachers has become one of the important issues facing higher education today, especially in the context of present scientific, technological and cultural changes, and is even considered imperative to lifelong education. It is also increasingly drawing the attention and interest of the staff concerned as well as of planners and decision makers in higher education.

In this context we present the following article, written for “Higher Education in Europe” by Professor Vladimir N. Siomin of the USSR's Ministry of Higher and Specialized Secondary Education.     

INFORMATION ON SOME NON‐TRADITIONAL FORMS OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

Non‐traditional forms of higher education in the German Democratic Republic are mainly directed towards adult students.

We give below information on the planning, organization and role of this form of study within the GDR's higher education system.     

POST‐COMPULSORY EDUCATION IN THE 1980s INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN LANCASTER

From 29 August to 1 September 1978 the 4th International Conference in Higher Education “Post‐Compulsory Education in the 1980s” was held at the University of Lancaster. The conference which drew some 250 participants from 25 countries and representatives of several international organizations concentrated on the following problems of higher education in the context of their implications for the future development in this field: structures of post‐compulsory education; higher education and working life; staff development; student learning; role of the media in higher education; and priorities for the 1980s.

The work of the conference was carried out in plenary and working party sessions. In the sessions of the working parties, each group discussed one of the above‐listed conference issues. During the plenary sessions the following addresses were presented:

• the opening address on the present problems of higher education and their implications for its situation in the 1980s, by Lord Briggs, Worcester College, Oxford;

• On “The many faces of academic coordination”, by Professor Burton R. Clark, Director of the Higher Education Research Group, Yale University;

• “Evaluating recurrent education reform or reforming recurrent evaluation in higher education?” by Professor Urban Dahllof from University of Upsala; and

• a summary of the work of the conference by Lord Vaizey,. Brunel University

The conference identified a number of problems, e.g. demographic changes affecting potential student populations in the 1980s, changes in the structure and content of university level education (mainly in the context of higher education systems in the developed countries. We present below the views expressed at the conference, concentrating on those given during the plenary sessions.