Second Opinion: Why not let teachers do the job they are paid to do?

One of the consequences of education cutbacks is that effective health promotion interventions are less likely to happen in schools. Prescribed curricula to promote health and wellbeing get shelved. Boards of management and teachers are more likely to use outside facilitators to deliver core aspects of the curriculum.

Operation Transformation is now working with St Anne's National School in Tallaght on a pilot programme called Fit at School, Fit Forever. A qualified physical education (PE) teacher has been assigned to work with the pupils for six weeks to deliver a health and fitness plan.

The ambition of Operation Transformation, and of Prof Niall Moyna of Dublin City University (DCU) who is leading the plan, is to have one PE teacher working with every four schools to implement the programme and "make PE a priority for primary schools". Why? Primary schools already have a PE curriculum with activities for all ages, from infants to sixth class. Do schools need outside visitors cluttering up an already overcrowded schoolday?

Did anyone read the guidelines of the Department of Education and Skills (DES) before coming up with such a scheme? The Primary School Curriculum Physical Education states that the "class teacher is the most appropriate teacher to teach the physical education programme".

The teacher guidelines say: “It should be remembered that in order to implement the programme [of PE], a teacher does not need to be a specialist in the teaching of physical education or to be able to demonstrate or perform the skills to be taught.”

DES policy is to develop a “whole school approach” using a spiral curriculum in which PE classes are integrated with other school subjects, such as mathematics and science, as opposed to being taught separately.

Furthermore, guidelines issued to primary schools in January 2015 say "research findings indicate that the following teaching approaches have limited effect and are counterproductive" including "once-off and short-term interventions". The six-week Operation Transformation programme is short term, unintegrated and should be avoided.

Post-primary

Post-primary schools also use ineffective, once-off, short-term interventions. Recently, a Dublin school had to postpone workshops for transition-year students on homophobic bullying.

Wellbeing in Post-primary Schools: Guidelines for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention

, published in 2013, advises schools to avoid scare tactics, personal testimonials, sensationalism and once-off, short-term interventions. So what is going on? Why are boards of management allowed to bring in external health educators who might do more harm than good?

Input from a qualified PE teacher will not harm the children but the six-week Operation Transformation programme may have unintended consequences. Regular teachers, having seen lessons delivered by a PE instructor, can feel disempowered; or, worse, they may renege on their responsibilities to teach PE because outsiders are saying class teachers are not good enough. Workshops about homophobic bullying, or any other kind, will not stop bullying and may have the unintended consequence of letting schools off the hook.

Boards of management, principals and teachers are responsible for ensuring bullying behaviour does not happen by implementing a comprehensive bullying policy. One workshop, no matter how well conducted, will not work.

Primary and post-primary schools already have prescribed curricula to promote mental and physical health and wellbeing. All schools are required to implement the Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) and PE programmes. Unfortunately, not all schools are doing so.

The DES Life Skills Survey 2012, the latest year for which statistics are available, found that only 71 per cent of primary schools are doing the recommended one hour of PE a week.

The vast majority – more than 90 per cent – of post-primary schools are not implementing the recommended two hours of PE provision. The survey, carried out every three years (the next one will be done this year), notes: “Overall the position [of PE] has deteriorated since 2009 when implementing the two-hour recommendation was slightly higher.” Only 13 per cent of primary and post-primary schools have achieved the Active School Flag.

Get tough

If schools are not implementing existing health and wellbeing curricula, the DES needs to get tough. Boards of management, principals and teachers should not be allowed to invite outside health educators, no matter how well-meaning, into schools, to do the job teachers are paid to do.

The DES should approve all visitors and ensure their input is in accordance with government education policy and best practice. The department's press office said it has "no role in relation to Operation Transformation". How can this happen?

Healthy Ireland: A Framework for Improved Health and Wellbeing 2013-2025 aims to "fully implement Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) in primary, post-primary and Youthreach settings, including implementation of the Physical Education programme and the Active Schools Flag initiative."

So let’s just do it.

drjackyjones@gmail.com Dr Jacky Jones is a former HSE regional manager of health promotion and a member of the Healthy Ireland council.