Rethinking health in the schools from the inside out - The Anschub.de project is finding a following

The processes of structural and cultural change in our society have also made their way into our schools, presenting new challenges that require them to redefine their educational mandate. The old approaches to promoting health in schools need rethinking as well. It is increasingly clear that the "health-promoting schools" model developed in the early 1990s in response to criticism of the largely ineffective traditional health curriculum is not up to the challenge. Anschub.de, the Alliance for Healthy Schools and Education in Germany, is a national program on education and health in schools initiated by the Bertelsmann Stiftung. Supporting Anschub.de is a nationwide alliance of institutions committed to using the topic of health as a tool for realizing sustainable, holistic school development. Slated to run from August 2002 through December 2007, the program links academic achievement to student and teacher health, with the goal of creating "high-quality, healthy schools." The program is jointly designed and implemented by the alliance's partners in the following strategic modules:

developing the quality dimensions for a "high-quality, healthy school"
designing regional and local support structures and processes
performing a quantitative and qualitative baseline assessment using SEIS in schools throughout the pilot regions
undertaking school development projects with the support of external partners
providing quality management and evaluation

The program aims to promote health in ways tailored to the school's goals, incorporating health into overall school development and viewing health as an integral element of the educational mandate. The Anschub.de project's primary objective is to achieve sustainable improvement of education and schools by investing in health. A high-quality, healthy school* knows its educational mandate and implements it successfully, thereby creating an educational prerequisite for sustainable development. It shows positive qualities in the following areas and works toward steady improvement over the long term through school development.

1. Teaching and learning for success:
The school promotes skills and attitudes in students that strengthen their capacity for lifelong learning and enable them to lead healthy, productive lives in a changing society.

2. Quality improvement in school and curriculum:
In designing its structures and processes, the school consistently integrates knowledge from the health sciences and education, thus contributing directly

to the quality of the learning environment,
to the physical, social and mental health of teachers and students, and
to the satisfaction and wellbeing of everyone involved.

3. Teaching and promoting health:
The school promotes health and safety awareness and improves the overall health competence of students through

educational principles that promote health
health and safety content integrated into classroom teaching and school life in general
professional development programs on prevention and promoting health.

*Gerold Brägger, Peter Paulus, Norbert Posse (Sigriswil, September 2005)