Curriculum Development for Health Promoting Schools

The Health Promoting Schools (HPS) initiative has been adopted by the national Department of Education of South Africa as an intervention to encourage learners and educators to engage in healthy living behaviours and activities. The Gauteng Department of Health, in collaboration with the Gauteng Department of Education, with funding from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has spearheaded this initiative through a pilot project from 2007 – 2009 with 14 primary schools. The intention is to provide these pilot schools with resources and support so that they can endeavour to implement HPS activities in their schools, and ultimately, GDoH and GDE can measure the impact that the HPS initiative could have province-wide in the schools.

The pilot project has numerous components including the development of Learning and Teaching Support Materials (LTSM) for the five health programme areas (Healthy Nutrition, Physical Activity, Personal and Environmental Safety, Tobacco and other Substance Abuse, Hygiene and Sanitation). The LTSM and IEC materials are intended to complement and support the educators and schools to teach the learners healthy behaviours as well as suggest engagement activities for the school and communities.