On May 22, Karen Mugliett together with the Home Economics student-teachers currently in their fourth year within the Faculty of Education, organised a half-day seminar entitled "Health Promotion in Schools - Ideas for Action".
The seminar was intended to act as an inspiration and stimulus for tomorrow's teachers and expose students in their final year within the B.Ed. course and those carrying out a PGCE to the Health Promoting School Concept and other ideas which may help to initiate action and generate change, activities and projects related to Health Promotion.
Tones stated that "Health and education are interdependent goals, and schools provide one of the most universal and efficient means of achieving them both; in virtually every nation, schools comprise existing systems, facilities and trained personnel to protect and improve the health of communities."
The seminar was held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta. Home Economics lecturers and guest speakers from the Health Promotion Unit shared their ideas on the importance of school-based health education, a health policy for schools, as well as other information. Representatives of a few schools also attended this seminar so that the students could interact with them during the discussions in the workshops.
Health-related resources that can be used in class were exhibited and some were made available for the students to collect. Other displays were those of a Healthy Tuckshop and Health Foods.
A Website on "Health Education across the Curriculum", created purposely for this event by the same organisers was launched during this seminar. This can be viewed on www.health-educ-mt.com
The students present at this well attended seminar could participate in the workshops which focused on a number of health-related topics, such as Nutrition, Parental and Community Involvement, Health Policies in School Development Plans, Safety in Schools and Encouraging Healthy Relationships/Self-Esteem in pupils.
The organisers from the Home Economics office hope that the participants may now feel empowered to use the resources available in schools to create an environment in which children can learn skills for a healthy lifestyle.