HEALTH EDUCATION IN POLAND

Recent research has shown that health is the most important value for Polish citizens, more important than family life and love. Personal health becomes an important issue for people - according to official statistics more than 80 % visit doctors every year and half of them also take part in health prevention programmes.

Regardless of those figures, there is still little health education in the curricula of Polish schools. Some elements of health education can be found in Polish schools curricula but only as part of other subject such as nature (as it is called at elementary level), biology, physical education. Very seldom it is also a topic of extracurricular activities organized thanks to extra funds within educational projects realised in schools. There are also numerous non-governmental initiatives and projects that deal with this issue in schools. Unfortunately these are not coherent activities built into regular curricula of schools.

The aim of this article is to present and analyze the health education system in Poland. The authors analyzed the core curriculum of general education in search of knowledge, competencies and skills in the field of health. The authors undertake an analysis of the curricula of Polish schools aiming at identification of elements of health education in curricula of schools of different level. It presents the results of this analysis and formulates recommendations that can be used in schools. Suggestions may be useful to school principals, teachers, nurses and family doctors.

References:
[1] GUS: Wartości i zaufanie społeczne w Polsce w 2015 r.
[2] GUS: Zdrowie i zachowanie zdrowotne mieszkańców Polski w świetle Europejskiego Ankietowego Badania Zdrowia (EHIS) 2014 r.