Reflecting and Informing Health and Wellness: The Development of a Comprehensive School Health Course in a Bachelor of Education Program

Abstract

We present a case study articulating a process by which the University of Calgary created a health and wellness course for the Bachelor of Education (BEd) program. This course will now be a mandatory degree requirement for all students in both the elementary and secondary specializations. We focus on the essential conditions in the university environment that occurred over eight years and enabled the course preparation, such as leadership from a health champion, student involvement, support from administrators and faculty-wide awareness building, innovative teaching practices, information access and evidence/research, allocation of resources and written policy, and campus relations, an interdisciplinary team, and community outreach. Within the comprehensive school health framework, there are four distinct but related components, including social and physical environment, teaching and learning, healthy school policy, and partnerships and services. Through the case study, we illustrate how the development of this CSH course in a BEd program both reflected and informed the wellness culture of our educational institution.