Equity, education and health: learning from practice. Case studies of practice presented during the fourth European conference on health promoting schools, held in Odense, Denmark, 7 - 9 October 2013

Abstract

The Scientific Committee for the Odense Conference emphasized the importance of ensuring the balance between theory and practice. At the conference there were contributions highlighting recent research and theoretical insights which can be found in the conference report on the SHE website. To ensure active involvement and participation, the Odense Conference had a parallel youth conference, with young people from four European countries working together during the conference and via internet. The young people’s views are included in the Odense statement (see chapter 2). Also the conference highlighted specific examples discussing the realities of practice concerning school health promotion in different contexts. These contributions are the basis of this publication (see chapter 3). There is a tradition in the Schools for Health in Europe (SHE) network to document examples of practice. We focus on learning from these practice examples, that we prefer to label as ‘learning practice’ or ‘innovative practice’. We encourage our network members to document and share their valuable experiences which all help to build the case of school health promotion in Europe and around the globe. The 4th chapter of this publication contains the background paper for the SHE factsheet on the evidence on school health promotion. It provides an overview of the evidence of health promotion in schools, with almost 90 scientific references to support the case for the Schools for Health in Europe (SHE) network.