Jordan
Education
Activity Dates
2002-2007
Activity Summary
 Building awareness and behavior change among school-age children and youth is one of the critical components of JHCP. The Health Competent Schools Initiative (HCSI) will work to build synergies with the program’s overall priorities and programs. It will be carried out in close cooperation with the Ministry of Education and help to support the health dimensions of its new reform program, Education Reform for the Knowledge Economy (ERfKE).
The efforts placed in this component are based on the principle that interventions in one generation will bring benefits to successive generations. The activities here act as cross-sectional multi-sectored levels in the field of health education through additions in the school curriculum and textbooks, extracurricular activities and supporting materials such as posters and brochures. Passport to My Future is considered a successful example of a non-conventional approach to spreading all campaign messages in one attractive entertaining yet educating package. It is the project’s belief that children have the ability to practice healthy behaviors from a young age and can therefore work as double agents spreading their knowledge and practices to their peers and family and community. The education component will work with schools in the public and private sectors and with communities through activities focused in three areas: (i) improving the effectiveness of in-school health-related teaching and learning; (ii) strengthening extra-curricular activities aimed at healthy living and health-related lifestyle issues; and (iii) building school-community alliances to develop the health competence of young people and their families.
 Goals of the Health Competent Schools Initiative
The general goal of HCSI is to provide students with learning opportunities that encourage the development of health competence, that is, to develop in students the knowledge, attitudes, and skills about health and healthy living so that they can make informed decisions to adopt improved healthy lifestyles. This component will be comprised of programs of health and health awareness activities that will be carried out in the schools, and in school-community partnerships, through curricular and extra-curricular activities.
Objectives of Health Competent Schools Initiative
- Build partnerships between schools and local communities related to health competence.
- Build action towards health competence in students, schools, and communities.
- Provide support for curricular and extra-curricular activities at the school and community levels that will enable students to develop the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed for lifelong good health and healthy living.
- Encourage students to develop problem-solving, critical-thinking, and team-building skills with relation to health and healthy living issues.
- Develop “student advocacy” skills so that the students themselves become proactive in advocating for healthy living at the school and community levels.
- Provide teachers and principals with professional development opportunities to improve interactive teaching and learning to promote health competence in their schools and among students from grades 7-10.
- Engage the private sector and NGOs in the design and implementation of programs.
HCSI design: Implementation Strategies
- All HCSI program activities has been carried the JHCP brand, “Our Health, Our Responsibility”. The implementation strategy is based on using four coordinated activity areas or entry points at the school-community level, decisions about implementation strategies was made through a Task Force mechanism. The Task Force has been working together with JHCP to determine and oversee implementation strategies and to adjust strategies as the program progresses.
- School-Community Partnerships
- Formal school curriculum
- Extra-curricular activities
- Teacher and Principle professional development
Principles that guide Health Competent Schools Initiative
 Develop the HCSI program according to the overall JHCP priorities and approaches and build maximum synergies with other JHCP components (e.g. coordinate HCSI program with overall “wave” messages of JHCP).- Develop the HCSI program within the “big tent” brand of “Our Health, Our Responsibility”. And Hayatee Ahla campaign
- Collaborate with and involve multiple partners in the design and implementation at the national, governorate, directorate, community, and school levels.
- Build HCSI approaches on the interactive teaching and learning vision represented by the MOE reform program ERfKE and coordinate formal curriculum interventions with introduction of the new curriculum.
- Build sustainability of the programs initiated under HCSI in the schools through close collaboration with existing structures and programs
- Start with a small-scale pilot in the first year, learn from the pilot, adjust the program as suggested by the pilot, and expand in the following years.
- Plan strategies for high-visibility from the start, despite the small scale of the pilot.
Summary of the main results of Health Competent Schools Initiative
- Health Competent School Initiative (HCSI) successfully implemented in 55 schools.
- A steering committee established at each school under this umbrella to (i) ensure a flow of ideas back and forth between school and community and (ii) an organizing group for heath-related activities at the community level. The steering committee will be made up of the school principal, selected teachers (particularly those most responsible for health and healthy-living content and activities in the school), community representatives, and selected students
- HCSI Kit and IEC materials ( includes 3 booklets ) produced and utilized and uploaded on Sehetna.com website
- HCSI Accreditation Standards for healthy schools developed, pre-tested and applied at HCSI schools
- The Ministry of Education played a key role as healthy lifestyle messages were added to the lessons in the five Health Education books from the curriculum text-books of students and teacher guidelines in grades 11 and 12. A whole chapter titled "Communication Skills" was added to the grade 12 Health Education Curriculum Text that we contributed. They even adopted the “Our Health, Our Responsibility” slogan, which can be found on the cover of these text books and recognized the first Arabic health web portal www.sehetna.com as an accurate source of health information.
- A special tool "Passport to My Future" was developed to entertainingly educate students in grades 6-11 and above to get their ideas on paper about their health and future. The Passport contained educational activities and included open-ended questions about plans for their future.
- These additions and changes no only educate the students, but also train them to become "agents of change" in their schools, homes and communities through empowering them with the knowledge, skills and resources to spread the knowledge beyond our arms reach. Planning for a better future today, guarantees a better tomorrow...that is why we're starting now.
Publications
 Title: Passport to my Future
Back to Jordan
Note about materials: Some of the materials and resources listed on each page are available in their full form, others are represented by image or citation only. For more information and resources, go to www.jhuccp.org
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