Introduction

Who are the readers?

The primary target audience of this guide is secondary school teachers. Members of relevant functional groups in the school (such as the healthy school team, physical education team, counselling team, etc.) can primarily obtain practical information from this guide. It is also for those who care about school and education affairs, especially policymakers in the Education Sector and those who implement health education programmes, such as members of the school sponsoring bodies and academic institutions, school leaders, curriculum developers, school social workers, and researchers in the education-related disciplines. Due to limited space, we refer to all these readers as teachers or school colleagues when giving application tips and recommendations.

How can teachers apply these teaching materials?

The following is how participating schools in the "ASAP Healthy Life Planning Project" used the teaching materials provided by the project team in the 2020 and 2021 school years. It can be a reference for teachers to explore how to apply these teaching materials. For details, please refer to Part II of this guide:

A teacher targeted Secondary One (S.1) students, used the Physical Education classes to implement Unit 4, "Train for Health and Fitness", and worked with the project team to design a school-based education booklet as students' workbook. Teachers ask students to perform an "MVPA60 Challenge", encouraging them to accumulate at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily for a specific period. MVPA60 is the abbreviation for Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity for 60 or more minutes a day. A footnote to add here: the WHO's recommendations for physical activity for children and adolescents have been updated to "an average of" at least 60 minutes a day throughout the week. Another teacher also targeted S.1 students and used the theoretical sessions in Physical Education classes to implement this unit. They discussed the precautions to prevent injuries and cultivated young people's positive attitudes toward exercise training and sportsmanship through case studies.
Teachers from another participating school combine two units: the "Need for Recharge" about sleep hygiene and the "Age of Phubbing" about addictive behaviours for school-based Health Education classes targeting S.1 students. They worked with the project team to design a workbook to guide students to adjust their resting and gaming time and establish good living habits and routines that enable them to better adapt to school life in the first semester of secondary school.
Teachers from another participating school targeted S.1 girls and used the Technology and Living classes to implement the "Your Beauty Health Points" unit. They worked with the project team to design a school-based workbook to help students establish a positive body image and acquire the basic knowledge of skincare. Teachers incorporated our teaching materials and assignment questions with existing course content, such as sources of food, eating patterns of local people, cooking skills and safety, table manners, sewing, etc., to compile a comprehensive assignment workbook for students.
Teachers from another participating school targeted S.3 students and implemented the "Need for Recharge" unit in Biology classes to teach about sleep hygiene. Students used smart wristbands to record sleep time and quality during a period and discuss their findings. They also conducted group projects to explore the impact of factors on sleep quality and presented their study results. These factors included looking at mobile phones before bed, overeating before bed, or drinking caffeinated beverages.
Teachers from another participating school implemented the "Work with Challenges" unit during the school-based Health Education classes with S.3 students to explore the sources of stress and coping techniques suitable for teenagers. Teenagers may feel psychologically stressed due to heavy workloads and examinations, deciding which subjects to study, or other reasons, making stress management particularly important among S.3 graders. Since this course uses homework and individual/ group projects to reflect students' learning performance, students have no pressure to take examinations in this course. Teachers from another two participating schools used the teaching materials provided by this unit through the schools' guidance team. They worked with the project team to design school-based education booklets about coping with stress to facilitate the delivery of mental health education, taking a whole-grade or small-group approach.
Targeting S.3 students, some teachers used the Technology and Lifestyle Department to implement the "Dental Elites" unit to teach teenagers toothbrushing techniques and dental care knowledge. Subsequently, students of different grades from grassroots families could receive a dental check-up at school from an NGO's outreach dental service. The coordinating teacher said in an interview that since the school offers Health Management and Social Care as an elective subject for senior secondary school students, they tailor-made an experiential course for S.3 graders where they participate in associated learning activities suggested by the ASAP project. The materials provided in this project have considered both academic and life-oriented perspectives.

What are the characteristics of health education through subjects?

Depending on the school's position on health education, we have observed that schools provide health education subjects for junior secondary school students by offering specific classes to deliver health education independently. In contrast, other schools perceive existing subjects as "carrier subjects" for health education regarding health-related topics. In theory, schools can also integrate and infuse health topics across most existing subjects provided in the school, allowing most teachers to play a role in health education.

The WHO (2003) compared the pros and cons of the above three implementation models of health education and believed that having a core health education subject has benefits, such as allowing a step-by-step approach to building advanced concepts from basic ones as specific lesson time is allocated for teaching health. It also enables teachers to address various health issues, plan health education and evaluate effectively. Promoting health education through carrier subjects is a feasible strategy because teachers of carrier subjects (e.g., Technology and Living, Physical Education, Biology) can connect the health issues they deem worthy of attention with the existing course content. At the same time, it can be delivered immediately with curriculum adjustment once the connection is found. The process is relatively fast, and teachers have sufficient resources and confidence in teaching the health topics they identified. WHO believes the last strategy of integrating health topics into multiple existing subjects is relatively unsatisfactory. When health education is infused into various major subjects, it could inevitably be ignored or left on the surface when teaching time is limited. These schools are recommended to develop a carrier subject and place health education in a more important position within the curriculum (WHO, 2003).

Apart from the above strategies, how can these teaching materials be used in existing curricula?

Many schools organise study tours or overseas exchange activities for students. Teachers can implement the "Ready to Travel" unit for students as preparation and training before the trip.
Reading is the best way for students to acquire knowledge, while artistic creation allows people to express their thoughts and emotions. Teachers from a participating school selected articles from our teaching materials on physical activity, sleep health, and healthy use of electronic screen products for students so that they instilled health messages in young people while cultivating their reading skills. Subsequently, students could express and depict the principles of healthy living they learned from the reading materials by designing posters. This programme was successful, and they further disseminated the artwork produced by students in the school and community to promote health.
Service learning is a strategy to cultivate positive values in students. Teachers from a participating school planned to arrange for some students to receive haircutting training and cooperate with an elderly centre to provide haircutting for older people as a service learning for students. Another plan was to organise a service learning activity to help older people do their make-up and take portrait photographs. Students also planned to record the life stories of the older people through interviews. "A Graceful Life" unit can be used as training content for service learning to allow young people to understand the health changes in ageing and appreciate how to get along with older people.
Student Health Ambassador is a strategy that empowers students to promote health missions and entrust responsibilities to students. While cultivating students' sense of responsibility and service attitude, it also plays a role in peer education. The forms of service for Student Health Ambassadors vary. Some serve as class representatives to assist in distributing health information. Some are enthusiastic students pre-selected by teachers at the beginning of the school semester and assist in implementing health activities throughout the year. Teachers may provide additional training and on-duty and programme planning opportunities for Student Health Ambassadors. There are also health education courses offered by the schools where all course participants become Health Ambassadors and are guided to apply what they have learned to convey health information to others. Teachers from participating schools planned to select part of the "A Graceful Life" unit to teach students how to get along with older people, explore issues related to organ donation, and then promote organ donation information to their junior graders, serving as an "Other Learning Experience". In addition, teachers from another participating school planned to arrange Student Health Ambassadors to teach their junior graders how to clean teeth. They selected part of the "Dental Elites" unit to enhance the ambassadors' knowledge.

We shared these ideas with readers, hoping to inspire creativity to find entry points for health education in your teaching content that might already be tight and help students develop health knowledge and skills through effective teaching methods and perhaps unconventional approaches. Reading, artistic creation, service learning, peer education, etc., are commonly used educational strategies school teachers adopt. You may wish to propose innovative interactive activities through discussion with your students based on their life experiences and interests or the content we recommended in this guide. We have participated in many health activities organised by secondary school students and found that these experiences positively impact consolidating students' health knowledge and improving their confidence, communication and collaboration skills, problem-solving skills, sense of responsibility and purpose of belonging to the school. You may review the existing school programmes and learning opportunities for students to establish new platforms. You may also utilise community resources to explore new options for students to serve the community by promoting health. These opportunities may include campus television, video production, school newsletters, posters, health weeks and school open days, community promotion, volunteer services, etc.

Learn more

This guide also explores: What are life skills? What does health mean? What are the similarities and differences between the core competencies defined by the World Health Organization and the generic competencies defined by the Curriculum Development Council? What is health literacy? What are the positive effects of cultivating good health? What is health education? What is the government’s health promotion policy for adolescents? What recommendations do WHO and UNESCO have for school curricula?