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[School health municipal service and health promotion in Villeurbanne]

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Abstract

A school health municipal service has been in existence in Villeurbanne since its creation in 1935. It works throughout the city's schools, and in particularly in places which provide the last year of nursery school and all primary-level schools as well. In 1998 it was integrated into the office of the Directorate for Hygiene and Public Health, which provided an opportunity to reconsider its mission and reflect upon the priorities. The balance between screening and prevention was examined. Furthermore, its approach to thematic issues was put into question given the lack of a strategic overall programming methodology. The new health policy aimed at students was executed through a reorganization of evaluations, leading to the creation and implementation of a new programme called "I take care of myself" specifically targeting all first grade children. The results of this programme, which focuses on the development of a more comprehensive approach, are encouraging. Thanks to the programme, health has been reinstalled in its proper place in the schools, and it has become a matter of great importance for the children, their parents and the teachers. Furthermore, the school health service has consolidated and strengthened its role in this manner.

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Article
A better understanding of primary school teachers' practices and representations toward health education (HE), and identification of individual or structural resistance as well as the partnership and training needs all constitute important goals in HE research. A quantitative study was conducted between April and December 2001 on a representative sample of the population of primary school teachers (n = 673) in the Auvergne region. The results demonstrate that the majority of teachers declare practicing and implementing HE. The approach is primarily thematic, essentially limited to a few lessons since it is only integrated into a broader project 20% of the time. 30% of teachers work in partnership, mainly with partners in school health; however, parents are rarely involved in HE activities. Parameters which influence the teachers' practices and representations are: (1) prioritizing work within an educational network and an inter-communal pedagogical regrouping, with the advantage that there are a greater number of teachers to do HE in these schools than in others, and (2) receiving initial or in-service training. These results suggest that a policy aiming to generalize the inclusion of HE in French primary schools must develop teacher training as well as support and accompany the collective dynamics within schools.