Revision of the Undergrad Professional Program in Health Education- School Health Education

Abstract

The current Undergraduate Professional Program in Health Education serves both students who wish to be school health educators and those who wish to be community health educators. The Department of Health Science is proposing a major change to the program such that it will be refocused to include only those students interested in school health education (SHE). The Department proposes a curriculum revision for SHE that will better align the program with the state of the art in preparing school health educators. A second proposal is being submitted to senate that proposes the creation of a new track within the Department of Health Science to serve those students interested in community health education (CHE). Students enrolled in the current program participated in a focus group to assess their perceptions of the extent to which the program prepared them to be school or community health educators. Students supported the separation of SHE and CHE training. Students also indicated that they needed more preparation in teaching elementary level children, classroom management, and conducting assessments. They also indicated the need for more field experience. Students felt that courses should be spread over more than one semester. Field supervisors were surveyed about the strengths and weaknesses of the program and the responses received echoed those of the students. Field supervisors felt that students needed more field experience, and more training in lesson planning, unit planning, use of materials, classroom management skills, and technological skills. The extent to which the current program prepares students to function as health educators was also assessed by evaluating the degree to which the discipline’s national competencies are addressed. As currently implemented, the program does not do an adequate job of addressing all the competencies. This is believed to be because the program is trying to do too much in too short of a time. Accepted - Implementation Effective Date: Fall 2013