Teacher Education in Health Education and
Promotion – The Irish Perspective.
Patricia Mannix McNamara, University of
Limerick, Ireland.
Patricia.M.McNamara@ul.ie
Sub Heading
And Date
Current School Health Promotion provision
Health Promotion in Ireland in schools is currently curriculum
based:
•Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) (primary and post
primary).
•Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) (primary and post
primary).
Currently no formal qualification for teachers although initial
dialogue is beginning… Teachers of SPHE are expected to complete
40 hours of in-service provision provided by the National SPHE
Support Service.
Patricia Mannix McNamara, patricia.m.mcnamara@ul.ie
SPHE Professional Development Provision
The National Support Service is a partnership between:
a) the Health Service Executive (a health promotion officer (HPO) in
each region is asked to commit a third of their role to this and
b) b) the Department of Education and Science who appoints
seconded teachers (full time) called regional development officers
(RDOs)
Teachers volunteer or principals recommend to them to do inservice, they attend 4o hours professional development to become
SPHE teachers.
Patricia Mannix McNamara, patricia.m.mcnamara@ul.ie
University of Limerick Pilot Project
In the academic year 2007/08 the Department of Education and
Professional Studies offered a full SPHE module as an elective to 2
post-graduate teacher education programmes
1. Graduate Diploma Education (Physical Education)
2. Graduate Diploma Education (Business)
All students opted for the elective module (40 hours) which required
experiential learning, critical reflection, teaching SPHE while on
practicum and assessment.
Our optimum = a specific qualification - post graduate diploma in
SPHE and SPHE integrated across 4 years undergrad
Patricia Mannix McNamara, patricia.m.mcnamara@ul.ie