Attitudes towards Teaching and Perceptions of School Climate among Health Education Teachers in the United States, 2011 2012.
PURPOSE: In general, teachers who are highly satisfied are more motivated teachers and positively affect health and student learning to improve academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to provide national level data with regard to teachers' attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs related to teaching, job satisfaction, and working environment. Findings were compared to health teachers due to their specific knowledge related to health and academics and their potential leadership roles when implementing the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model. METHODS: Data reported for this study were extracted from the most recent Schools and Staffing Survey, a comprehensive nationally representative survey of school employees conducted by the National Center for Educational Statistics. Descriptive statistics were used to identify health education teachers' attitudes toward teaching, job satisfaction, and the working environment as compared to all other teachers. RESULTS: Health teachers reported more positive attitudes toward teaching, reported higher levels of satisfaction with teaching, and perceived their school environment as more supportive when compared to all other teachers. They often were less positive about their colleagues sharing a common mission or vision. CONCLUSIONS: Health teachers may serve as key leaders during the implementation phase of the WSCC model due to their knowledge of health and academics, high levels of job satisfaction, and positive attitudes towards teaching. RECOMMENDATIONS: Working together as a team with a shared goal of increasing student well being is a cornerstone of the WSCC model and the perception that some health teachers feel isolated in part is an area of concern. Overall, teachers perceive administrative support, however there is a need for school leaders to establish collaborative and trusting relationships between teachers, parents, and community members during the implementation phase of the WSCC model in order to achieve desired student goals and objectives related to health and learning. Journal of Health Education Teaching, 2016; 7(1) 1 14 Copyright: www.jhetonline.com All rights reserved Attitudes Towards Teaching and Perceptions of School Climate Among Health Education Teachers in the United States, 2011 2012 Page 2 INTRODUCTION Academic success among school aged youth is dependent on numerous factors. Increased empirical evidence suggests a strong link between health and learning, such as poor health leading to poor academic performance (Basch, 2010; CDC, 2015b; Dunkle Nash, 1991) Conversely, healthy students have higher levels of academic achievement (CDC, 2014; Basch, 2010) According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) (2015b) healthy students had better academic performance, education behavior, cognitive skills, and attitudes. Schools play an important role in community wide efforts supporting this link between health, learning, and academic achievement among youth. Schools have a unique capacity through infrastructure and personnel to improve the health of all students and to improve the quality of the learning environment (Demissie et al. 2015) Education professionals, such as principals, serve as leaders in creating healthy schools and promoting factors that contribute to healthy youth (Lewallen, Hunt, Potts Datema, Zaza, Giles, 2015; Valois, Slade, Ashford, 2011) As summarized by Valois et al. (2011) in 2006, the CDC and the ASCD (formerly known as the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) partnered to evaluate the school and community factors that led to a school community environment that improved children's cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development and well being. ASCD conducted a structured pilot study of the Healthy School Communities Model (HSCM) in eight American and three Canadian districts, using the Healthy Schools Report Card to evaluate the effectiveness of the program in changing school culture relative to health and well being. ASCD identified nine key factors critical for implementing the HSCM: The principal as leader; active and engaged leadership; distributive leadership; integration with the school improvement plan; effective use of data for continuous school improvement; ongoing and embedded professional development; authentic and mutually beneficial community collaborations; stakeholder support of the local efforts; and, the creation or modification of school policy related to the process. As a result of this study, eight components of the Coordinated School Health (CSH) model were expanded to ten components encompassing the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model, which surrounds and ensures each child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged (ASCD CDC, 2014) Components of the CSH model that were revised and updated based on current research included: health education; nutrition environment and services; employee wellness; health services; counseling, psychological and social services; and, physical education and physical activity (ASCD CDC, 2014) The expansion of two CSH components shifted the focus from a healthy and safe environment to the effect of the social and emotional climate and physical environment of the school on students' health and learning. Family and community involvement were expanded to family engagement and community involvement (i.e. role of community agencies, businesses, and organizations) These changes brought attention to the need for greater emphasis on both the psychosocial and physical environments of the school as well as the potential contributions of community agencies and families towards engaging students as active participants in their learning and health (ASCD CDC, 2014) These expanded roles emphasize the importance of an integrated approach between each component of the WSCC model and individuals working together to implement policies, practice, and processes that contribute to students' learning and health (Lewallen et al. 2015) Researchers (Lewallen et al. 2015; Valois et al. 2011) noted that coordination of policies, practice, and processes require administrator support in order to achieve the intended outcomes of the WSCC model; in particular, the researchers identified the principal as a key factor in the success of the integration of learning and health in schools. The researchers emphasized that principal leadership skills are needed at the school level to promote and coordinate district and school policies with regard to enhancing health and learning specific to local needs. Principals reinforced policies and desired behaviors of staff and students. In addition, they managed coordination, planning, use of data, and continuous improvement in order to integrate all components of the WSCC model. Furthermore, they must bring together all stakeholders such as school staff, educators, families, community agencies, and students to Journal of Health Education Teaching, 2016; 7(1) 1 14 Copyright: www.jhetonline.com All rights reserved Attitudes Towards Teaching and Perceptions of School Climate Among Health Education Teachers in the United States, 2011 2012 Page 3 achieve the common goal of improved health and learning (Lewallen et al. 2015) Rasberry, Slade, Lohrmann, and Valois (2015) also noted that lessons learned from successful implementation of the CSH model concerning infrastructure within a school and district may be applied to WSCC model implementation. For example, researchers (Murray, Hurley, Ahmed, 2015; Rasberry et al. 2015) recommend the presence of a school health coordinator or a leadership team (i.e. coordinating council, district level health advisory team, etc. The team usually includes a representative from each component of the model. Support for program initiatives from both inside and outside of schools is essential for overcoming barriers and challenges to achieving outcomes of improved health and learning. In summary, the WSCC model provides a framework in improving health and learning of students that leads to improved academic success, however an action plan is needed which is facilitated and supported by key district and school level administrators. In addition to monitoring policies, practice, and processes related to all ten tenets of the WSCC model at the local level, data are needed, as well, to monitor national health and learning objectives and drive policy development (CDC, 2015b) The School Health Policies and Practices Study (SHPPS) was developed by the CDC to meet the need for national level data (CDC, 2015) This national survey is periodically conducted to assess school health policies and practices of the ten CSH components (CDC, 2015b) For example, data were collected with regard to policy and practices specific to health education, which was defined by the CDC (2015a) as: Formal, structured health education consists of any combination of planned learning experiences that provide the opportunity to acquire information and the skills students need to make quality health decisions. When provided by qualified, trained teachers, health education helps students acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills they need for making health promoting decisions, achieving health literacy, adopting health enhancing behaviors, and promoting the health of others. Comprehensive school health education includes curricula and instruction for students in pre K through grade 12 that address a variety of topics such as alcohol and other drug use and abuse, healthy eating/nutrition, mental and emotional health, personal health and wellness, physical activity, safety and injury prevention, sexual health, tobacco use, and violence prevention. Health education curricula and instruction should address the National Health Education Standards (NHES) and incorporate the characteristics of an effective health education curriculum. Health education, based on an assessment of