For Whose Benefit? The Politics of Developing A Health Education Curriculum

Learning and teaching in health education

Current pedagogy in health education is strongly influenced by a constructivist approach to learning (Osborne and Wittrock, 1987; Alton-Lee and Nuthall, 1991). This approach empowers the learner in the control of his/her learning process and is in harmony with the needs-based approach underpinning our 1985 Health Education Syllabus; the tenets of a post-modern curriculum (Doll, 1989); and the learning approaches promoted in the new curriculum statements of mathematics (Ministry of Education, 1993) and science (Ministry of Education, 1994). To be consistent with this kind of approach, there must be flexibility in the learning activities and contexts to ensure relevancy for the learners as well as responsiveness to cultural and individual difference. Again, this perspective is supported by the PAG's policy specifications which state:

The achievement objectives and learning activities should not be seen as providing a rigid structure. Rather it should be recognised that students will approach learning with different levels of achievement, individual needs, and different learning styles (Ministry of Education, 1995, p. 4).

Further on, the PAG state that: "the activities described will be descriptive rather than prescriptive" (Ministry of Education, 1995, p. 5), which is an endorsement of the curriculum as an open rather than closed system (Doll, 1989). This should enable schools to meet the needs of their students in terms of their current level of development, the classroom and school environment, and the special nature of their communities, whilst not neglecting the needs which arise from what we know about the health status of children, adolescents and adults in New Zealand society. The new health education curriculum will make a particular contribution to the development of the essential skills identified in the New Zealand Curriculum Framework (1993). These include communication skills, problem-solving skills, self-management and competitive skills, and social and co-operative skills. Similarly, the new health education curriculum reflecting current health education practice, promotes effective interpersonal communication, decision-making, problem-solving, mediation, and conflict-resolution.

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