HPS Definition and Context
Schools are crucial environments where care is provided to children and adolescents, who are valuable national human assets. Schools must adopt strategies that are inclusive of the health needs of the entire school population and make appropriate use of health-promoting opportunities.
Since 1995, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been actively encouraging Health Promoting School (HPS) programs. An HPS is defined as “a school that constantly strengthens its capacity as a healthy setting for living, learning, and working.”
In 1996, the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific proposed that “an HPS is a place where all members of the school community work together to provide students with integrated and positive experiences and structures which promote and protect their health.”
An HPS is based on a setting where the school is regarded as an important living area in the developmental process of students. Therefore, an HPS should perform the following.
1. The school should implement policies that respect individual well-being and dignity and provide multiple opportunities for success.
2. The school should be committed to the HPS Program, striving to improve the health of school personnel, families, community members, and students.
3. The principal should lead advocacy efforts, communicating and collaborating effectively with school administrators, teachers, students, parents, health providers, and community leaders to ensure a healthy school environment.
4. The school should provide a healthy physical environment, social-emotional environment, school health education, community connections, and health service resources.
5. The school should provide health promotion programs for staff, nutrition and food safety programs, opportunities for physical education and recreation, and programs for counseling, social support, and mental health promotion in connection with community development programs.
Development and Outreach Strategy
Since 2002, the former Department of Health and the Ministry of Education (MOE) have been collaborating to develop six major areas of HPSs, as defined by the WHO, namely school health policy, school physical environment, school social environment, school/community relationships, personal health skills, and health services. They jointly developed a school health policy to create a consensus among teachers and students and to promote community participation in providing health services. These efforts aimed to build a school environment conducive to learning and fostering healthy living, thereby improving the overall health of children and adolescents.
In April 2002, the Director of the former DOH, Ming-liang Li, and the Minister of Education, Rong-cun Huang, signed the Declaration of School Health Promotion Initiative. On September 13, 2004, the former DOH and the MOE, together with representatives from local governments, teachers, and parent groups, signed an MOU to advocate the HPS initiative. Forty-eight schools were selected to launch the program, and 120 seed teachers were trained.
From 2005 to 2007, a teaching resource development center, a counseling support network, a staff training center, the Taiwan Health-Promoting Schools website, and the Taiwan Health Promoting School Counseling Network website were established. Systems for media marketing, monitoring and evaluation, and other forms of support were developed to provide a platform for schools to share resources and experiences related to health promotion development.
From 2008 to 2009, the Health Promoting School Center was created to integrate the resources established since 2005. Ninety-eight scholars and experts formed a central and local counseling team to provide consistent assistance and services to county and municipal governments and schools across all levels.
In 2010, the MOE developed nine effectiveness indicators for health promotion–related topics and student health and behavior. These health topics include healthy body weight, oral care, vision care, tobacco prevention and control, and betel quid chewing hazard prevention. The MOE also developed a nationwide standardized pretest and posttest tool for evaluating the effectiveness of selected topics in HPS action research, which schools across all levels may use to conduct their action research.
