DESARROLLO EXPERIMENTAL
4.5. A NÁLISIS ISOTÓPICO DE N D POR TIMS
At the beginning of each interview, principals and teachers were asked to explain how health is promoted within their school. The following narrative regarding health promotions at each school is based on participants‘ responses to that question. Findings from the children‘s focus group discussions also contributed to the account. The information presented reflects what staff within each school chose to discuss with respect to health promotions. For instance, several schools take part, or have taken part, in the National Heart Foundation‘s Jump Rope for Heart programme. Each school‘s experience and perception of the programme, however, differs. The discussion below, therefore, reflects the issues considered pertinent to each school. A summary of the nutrition and physical activity promotions is presented in Table 4.3 (p. 77).
Each school‘s nutrition and physical activity programmes are supported by other resources, such as the Life Education Trust mobile classrooms. Schools A, B, C and F mentioned Life Education as a component of health education. Other resources including Munch and Crunch, 5+A Day (fruit and vegetables) and Iron Brion promote healthy eating practices to children. Schools D, E and F have had Iron Brion come to their school. Schools D and E also hold healthy morning teas and lunches to promote healthy eating and provide parents with ideas for healthy options for children. School F has recently become part of the government-sponsored Fruit in Schools (FIS) initiative designed to encourage children to eat more fruit and adopt healthier lifestyles. Only decile one schools are eligible to apply for the programme. The school receives a free piece of whole fruit (e.g. a banana) for each child daily (which will continue for up to three years). The FIS initiative is supported with healthy eating lessons in the classroom. Staff members at School F indicate student health and wellbeing is a high priority.
Physical activity programmes at each school are designed to meet the requirements of the national curriculum framework and according to staff often well exceed the Ministry of Education‘s recommended guidelines (as discussed further in Chapter Seven, section 7.2.1, p.129). Programmes at each school include fitness sessions and sporting activities such as a cross-country run and athletics. Fitness sessions are usually in the morning, for approximately 15-30 minutes. At School B, for instance, senior students have half hour sessions, with 15 minutes for junior students. Fitness sessions at the schools can include Jump Jam Kidz Aerobix, dance (e.g. Kapa haka, Māori performing arts), running, skipping, fitness circuits and other skill training activities. According to staff, Jump Jam Kidz Aerobix has been particularly successful for School A in promoting physical activity. At School C, there are also organised games at lunch time (e.g. dodgeball) and sports equipment (e.g. balls) which children can borrow for games or to play with friends. At Schools E and F, fitness is strongly profiled to provide children opportunities to be physically active and take
part in sports and exercise. Both principals consider opportunities for physical activity particularly important for the purpose of expending energy before children engage in classroom learning.
In addition to fitness sessions, there are a variety of other health promotion activities which also contribute to each school‘s implementation of the Health and Physical Education (PE) Curriculum. The Perceptual Motor Programme (PMP) used in Schools A, B and C, helps children develop co-ordination and motor skills. PE sessions include external stakeholders (e.g. professional sports people representing their club/sport) coming into schools to teach specific sports and skills. At Schools A and B these include orienteering, badminton, touch rugby, cricket and gymnastics. Schools also have their own sports teams (e.g. netball, soccer, rugby) and sports days, with both intra-school and inter-school competitions. Schools are involved in activities such as Jump Rope for Heart, fun runs and Push PlayDay. Staff at School D noted they participate in Jump Rope for Heart
every second year as Jump Rope requires students to obtain sponsors. The school also requires sponsors for events such as spellathon and mathathon (sponsored spelling and math related activities), so holding Jump Rope every second year reduces pressure on parents and families to spend money on sponsoring children.
There are also other factors contributing to each school‘s specific areas of focus in health promotion. For Schools A, C and F these primarily revolve around the physical characteristics of the school and the school environment. School A, for example, has a swimming pool and is close to local beaches, so there is a strong emphasis on swimming skills and water safety as part of their Health and PE curriculum. The Waterwise programme is an integral component used by the school to teach children aquatic awareness through learning basic sailing skills. The Walking School Bus is also important at School A. This was initiated by a group of parents who were interested in establishing walking buses for their children and others attending the school. Walking buses are operated by parents and promoted throughout the school. Children enjoy ‗catching‘ the walking bus and receive certificates and other incentives for their participation38.
School C is located on a busy main road, so road safety is an important consideration for activities taking place in and around the school. For this reason, the school does not have any
Walking School Buses. Additionally, although located in a busy urban area, School C was previously considered a semi-rural school. The school catchment area includes coastal communities and a large portion of the Waitakere (mountain) Ranges. The majority of children come from rural areas. At
38 It is noted that the promotion of Walking School Buses at a particular school can be majorly influenced by
the local council‘s school travel planning resources and priorities. Rodney District Council, for example, has strongly supported this programme using government funding assistance. Walking School Buses are supported by government as a means to reduce car dependency for student travel to and from schools. Likewise, there are programmes to promote cycleways for safe cycling to school. The transport mode shift from car travel to walking and cycling has the two-fold benefit of reducing traffic congestion while contributing to health (N. V. Hawkins, personal communication, January 19, 2009).
School C, teachers have recently been involved in learning new strategies for PE and activity through a professional development programme. Teachers indicated the programme has taught them how to better engage children in PE by making activities interesting and fun. At School F, the principal indicated their PE programme is comprehensive, including fitness sessions, sports and PE sessions. The school does not have a swimming pool so children have lessons at a local leisure centre. Some children participate in athletics and sports teams, but as the school is small, many join teams through local sports clubs.
Schools B, D and E are HPS and as such their approaches to health appear more holistic and child-centred than the other three schools (i.e. Schools A, C and F which are not HPS). At School B, the principal explains health is considered in a global sense, taking into account a child‘s personal well being, nutrition, physical activity, emotional and spiritual well being. The values of health and healthy practices are promoted throughout all school projects and activities. At School D, like School B, health is promoted in a variety of ways in recognition of the multiple components of health (e.g. nutrition, physical health, mental health). The principal from School D explains they have a ‗wrap-around‘ (i.e. holistic) approach to health, underpinned by a belief they can achieve a healthier school in all senses. Modelling is important; staff try to model healthy practices and acknowledge children‘s positive behaviours. In School D, there is a children‘s health promoting team which is an integral part of communicating health, with senior children promoting messages and acting as role models for junior children. At School E, health is promoted via the HPS team which have brought about a number of changes in health for their school (e.g. introducing healthy food items onto the tuckshop menu and removing unhealthy ones). While the health component of the curriculum includes classroom learning in health (such as healthy eating and the food pyramid), the principal suggests much of the health promotion taking place is incidental. That is, on a daily basis, the teachers affirm children‘s healthy behaviours and discourage unhealthy behaviours by commenting on lunches and foods brought from home or outside the school.
Table 4.3. Summary of Nutrition and Physical Activity Promotions
Nutrition and Physical Activity Health Promotions Schools
A B C D E F Cross Country
A running event.
Fitness
Daily physical activity such as aerobics, skipping circuit training etc. Fruit in Schools (FIS)
A government-sponsored initiative designed to encourage children to eat more fruit and adopt healthier lifestyles (Ministry of Health, 2007). Participating schools receive a free piece of fruit for each child each day (for up to three years).
Iron Brion
The 'Iron Brion Barbecue Roadshow' encourages children to think about a healthy lifestyle, including a balanced diet and exercise (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, n.d.).
Life Education
Life Education is a charitable trust that delivers a health programme to children in preschool, primary and intermediate schools. There are 19 learning modules that fit in with the school curriculum (Life Education Trust, 2008).
Jump Rope for Heart
The programme promotes the importance of physical activity and healthy lifestyles through curriculum-based skipping and movement skills (National Heart Foundation, 2006).
Jump Jam Kidz Aerobix
An aerobics programme for primary and intermediate schools designed by Brett Fairweather, a New Zealand and world aerobics champion (Kidz Aerobix Limited, 2006).
Munch and Crunch
Promoting the consumption of fruit and vegetables. Push Play Day
Push Play Day is the annual day SPARC and its partners across the country celebrate physical activity and encourage people to lead active healthy lives (SPARC, 2008a).
Perceptual Motor Programme (PMP)
PMP is a motor coordination programme which aims to develop children’s motor skills that are foundation skills for many activities in the classroom (Moving Smart Ltd., 2009).
Healthy Morning Teas and Lunches
Morning teas and lunches in which children bring along healthy foods (e.g. fruit and vegetable platters) to share with the class.
Health Promoting School(s) (HPS)
Health is viewed as a holistic concept where members of the school community work together to identify and address health issues. Schools choose specific interventions to address issues of importance to their community (World Health Organization, 2003b).
Sports Days
Intra- and inter- school competitions.
Sports Teams e.g. hockey, netball, rugby, soccer.
Walking School Bus
A ‘bus’ that walks along a set route with at least one adult ‘driver’, picking children up at designated stops and walking them to and from school (RoadSafe Auckland, 2001).
Waterwise
An initiative designed to teach children water safety and aquatic awareness
(NZ Schools Waterwise, 2008).
Shading is used to highlight that Schools B, D and E are Health Promoting Schools (HPS).
The ticks () indicate promotions which take place (or have taken place) at each school. Principals and teachers were asked broad questions about health promotion so they could discuss any topics they saw fit. Absence of a tick (), therefore, does not necessarily indicate absence of a particular promotion, rather it indicates that promotion was not specifically mentioned by school staff during the interviews.