Teachers´ Knowledge and Competence in the Field of Health Education

Abstract

Despite all the achievements obtained in the field of Health Education (HE), there are many elements and situations which prevent us from offering an adequate response as regards health care and prevention at school level. The treatment of Health Education and its approach are conditioned, among other factors, to the teachers’ lack of training and the lack of attibution of competences as regards school health. Researches such as those conducted by Salvador (2008) and Aramendi, Buján and Arburna (2014) reveal the lack of professional qualification of teachers who show the lack of knowledge and training when they have to face emergency situations in schools which result from risk behaviours or accidents. The main objective of this study is both to know the way in which teachers respond to school emergency situations and evaluate their level and training as regards Health Education. The sample selected is made up of 503 teachers of compulsory secondary education. The instrument which is proposed to evaluate teachers’ attitudes and knowledge in the field of health education is the “Questionnaire about attitudes and knowledge as regards health in the school context” (CACOSA), performed by Pérez-Jorge and De la Rosa Hormiga (2014) taking as a basis the Healthy Child Programme conducted by the Canary Islands Health Service (2007). The results showed the teachers’ concern about Health Promotion (82%). Although they had experience working in pathologies such as allergies, asthma, diabetes, etc. (73%), they showed a lack of training (81,5%) and qualification to respond adequately to emergencies (92%) and to improve their students’ training in Health Education (79%).