TEACHERS OF junior and senior infant classes in Limerick, Clare and North Tipperary found an interesting parcel awaiting them on their return to work this term - the new Bi Follain infants' resource manual.
The 302-page loose-leaf infants' manual, illustrated with red, white and blue cartoon characters, is divided into six units: nutrition, hygiene, safety, personal and social development, environmental care and media education. By taking one unit per term, the teacher can work through the manual over two years.
The aim of the Bi Follain programme is to provide social and health education for primary school children. "This programme is appropriately targeted at the young, where attitudes to health are still susceptible to positive influences," says Denis Doherty, chief executive of the Mid-Western Health Board which developed the programme with the support of the Dept of Health. "In this way we see Bi Follain as an extension of the work that goes on in the home."
The programme takes in physical, emotional, social, mental, spiritual and environmental aspects of a child's health and well-being. It ranges from cleaning teeth to naming the creatures in the garden, from crossing the road safely to looking at advertisements for toys.
Fifth and sixth classes in over 350 schools in the mid-west have participated in the programme.
"The manual is a resource for activity-type lessons whereby the children can internalise the health message and in turn develop healthy habits," according to Fidelma Healy Eames, joint author of the infants manual.
Healy Eames, a primary teacher in St Patrick's Boys National School, Tuam, Co Galway, on secondment to the health board, developed the manual with Eileen O'Sullivan, a lecturer in Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, who piloted the programme and launched the fifth and sixth class resource manual in 1992.
Over 2,000 teachers in the mid-west were given in-service training at the start of the Bi Follain programme, and now, as specific manuals become available, there are follow-up sessions. The third and fourth class manual is due out at Easter, and that for first and second class at the end of this year.
