Professional Development Activities and Support Among Secondary Health Teachers

Theoretical Foundation

Establishing healthy behaviors during childhood that may be carried into adulthood are most likely to be achieved through partnerships with schools, government agencies, community organizations, and other community members (ASCD & CDC, 2014; St. Leger et al., 2009; WHO, 2017). The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model, recently developed by the CDC and ASCD with participation from leaders in the fields of health, public health, education, and school health education, seeks to improve learning and health among youth in United States schools by incorporating a collaborative and comprehensive approach with schools. The WSCC model includes 10 components: health education, physical education and physical activity, nutrition environment and services, employee wellness, social and emotional school climate, physical environment, health services, community involvement, family engagement, and counseling, psychological, and social services. This model is directed at schools and uses community resources to address the needs of the whole child, which may serve as a framework for improving students’ academic success and health in schools (ASCD & CDC, 2014).

With regard to the health education component of the WSCC model, students learn skills needed to make quality health decisions. Specifically, heath education instruction is provided by a qualified and trained health teacher so that students may gain the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to make healthful decisions, practice healthful behaviors, become health literate, and promote the health of others (CDC, 2015). As explained by the CDC (2015), health education curricula should incorporate the characteristics of an effective health curriculum, which include ongoing professional development and training for teachers so they are comfortable and skilled in implementing effective health education strategies and assessing student learning. Rooney, Videto, and Birch (2015) noted the importance for schools to allocate resources for health education curriculum and multiple opportunities for professional development, which may be integrated into a school district’s strategic plan for improvement. In addition, the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (2008) states in their guidelines for health promoting schools that it is essential to have ongoing opportunities for staff to attend professional development programs, ensure there are resources for appropriate capacity building of staff, and provide resources that complement the fundamental role of the teacher that are of a sound theoretical and accurate factual base.

Professional Development

In general, teachers’ continuing professional development has been given increasing importance in countries throughout the world due to the positive correlations between teacher quality and student achievement. Evidence-based practice for continuing professional development serves as an impetus and motivation for teachers to transform their practice and enhance student learning (Harrison, Hofstein, Eylon, & Simon, 2008). Many initiatives for continuing professional development among teachers were started by government agencies such as the United Kingdom (General Teaching Council for Scotland, 2012), the United States (Every Student Succeeds Act [ESSA], 2016), and the European Union (European Commission Directorate-General for Education and Culture). In the United States, resources to support the WSCC model specific to professional development to enhance health education teaching that are associated with a school district’s strategic plan for improvement may come from Federal Government Title II funds for professional development (SHAPE America—Society of Health and Physical Educators, 2016). In 2015, the ESSA shifted the nation’s education focus from a few select subjects, such as mathematics and science, to a “well-rounded education” for all students, which includes health education. Consequently, school districts have the means to support teachers’ professional development specific to health education for the purpose of improving students’ academic success and health as part of their ESSA implementation plan, ensuring a well-rounded education for all students.

As reported by the U.S. Department of Education (2017), there is much empirical support regarding the benefits of professional development for teachers. For example, professional development enhances teachers’ subject matter knowledge, improves their instructional skills, and enables teachers to learn state-of-the-art teaching techniques. In addition, there is an emerging base of research to support that professional development influences student learning and achievement. This evidence base for professional development that improves teaching and learning also assessed the quality and effectiveness of professional development activities, such as coaching and mentoring, collaboration among colleagues, and observing and discussing classroom practice (Caena, 2011; Darling-Hammond, Wei, Andree, Richardson, & Orphanos, 2009; DeMonte, 2013). For instance, studies have found that beginning teachers who participate in teacher induction programs perform better at various teaching skills (i.e., classroom management) and their students had higher academic achievement (Ingersoll & Strong, 2011). There is also empirical support that improved teacher practice and student learning resulted from specific types of professional development, such as focusing on the teacher’s content area, observing expert teachers or leading discussions, and shared participation among teachers (i.e., same subject area; Caena, 2011; U.S. Department of Education, 2017). In addition, Desimone and Garet (2015) concluded that research has demonstrated the important role of school leaders’ support for professional development activities in terms of providing time for teachers to participate in professional development and to implement strategies learned.

The U.S. Department of Education (2017) noted that all teachers should have equal access to high-quality professional development and provided a description of teacher professional development in the United States during the 2011-2012 school year with regard to selected teacher and school characteristics. However, their reported results concerning teacher professional development were for all teachers and not specific to teachers’ content areas. As a result, baseline data are needed to describe the health education component of the WSCC model by describing professional development opportunities and support among health education teachers in the United States, which will serve to determine the extent that health education programs are incorporating the characteristics of an effective health curriculum as defined by the CDC (2015). These characteristics include ongoing professional development and training for health teachers to enhance their skills in implementing effective health education strategies. Moreover, baseline data are needed to assess the call by Rooney et al. (2015) for schools to allocate support and resources for health teachers’ professional development and if they were equitable to all other teachers.

Purpose of the Study

Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe secondary public school health education teachers’ professional development activities and the types of support for professional development they received during the 2011-2012 academic year as compared with secondary teachers of all other subjects. In addition, professional support specific to newly hired secondary health teachers was described, as well as their perceptions of how well prepared they were during their first year of teaching with regard to selected instructional skills. Therefore, specific research questions include the following:

Method

This study employed a secondary analysis on an existing data set. The data were from the most recent (2011-2012) Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), a large national data collection effort conducted by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES; Cox, Parmer, Strizek, & Thomas, 2017). Since the early1980s, the SASS has been conducted every 3 years using a systematic sample of public, private, and charter school employees, including teachers, administrators, and library media specialists. Notably, for the first time, the 2011-2012 SASS has included health education as a subject area exclusive of physical education.

Results

Overall, public school secondary teachers in the United States, during the 2011-2012 academic year (N = 1,553,401), were 36.3% male and 63.7% male. Most common responses for race/ethnicity were White (90.0%), Black or African-American (7.5%), Hispanic or Latino (6.9%), Asian (2.4%), and American Indian or Alaska native (1.4%). Responses for all other race/ethnic groups were less than 1%. Total percent for race/ethnicity was greater than 100% as respondents were able to mark one or more races on the SASS questionnaire.

Table 1 shows that compared with public school secondary teachers of all other subjects, secondary health education teachers more likely to participate in professional development activities such as university course(s) related to teaching, use of computers for instruction, and student discipline and classroom management. They were also more likely to present at workshops, conferences, or training sessions as compared with other secondary teachers, but less likely to attend workshops, conferences, or training sessions if they were not presenting. In addition, secondary health education teachers were less likely to have observation visits to other schools or attend professional development activities that concentrated on, and were specific to, their subject area. Approximately one quarter (24.0%) of all secondary teachers of other subjects, and even fewer secondary health education teachers (20.1%), reported professional development activities related to teaching limited-English proficient students or English-language learners (ELLs). Moreover, secondary health education teachers participated in fewer professional activities that focused on how to teach students with disabilities as compared with their teaching peers. Overall, of the nine professional development activities presented on the SASS 2011-2012 (U.S. Department of Education, 2011), secondary school health education teachers reported less participation in more than half. Congruently, they reported receiving less support for professional development as compared with secondary teachers of all other subjects.

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Table 1.

Professional Development During the Past 12 Months Among Secondary Public School Health Education Teachers as a Percentage of the Population (N = 1,553,401).

Survey item	Heath education teachers (n = 18,864)	All other teachers (n = 1,534,537)
	Yes	Yes
Participated in professional activity, such as
Attended workshops, conferences, or training sessions, but not presenter	85.1	89.7
Concentrated on, and specific to, subject(s) taught	76.5	79.1
Focused on use of computers for instruction	70.1	66.4
Focused on student discipline and classroom management	51.6	42.0
How to teach students with disabilities	32.9	38.3
University course(s) related to teaching	30.3	28.1
Presenter at workshops, conferences, or training sessions	24.8	23.2
How to teach limited-English proficient students or ELLs	20.1	24.0
Observation visits to other schools	16.0	19.3
Received support for professional development, such as
Scheduled time in the contract year	74.2	76.3
Release time from teaching (someone else assigned to teach)	41.9	47.8
Reimbursement for conference or workshop fees	27.0	31.0
Reimbursement for travel and/or daily expenses	20.5	23.9
Stipend for activities outside of work hours	19.2	25.0
Full or partial reimbursement of college tuition	11.2	9.7

Note. ELLs = English-language learners.

The SASS 2011-2012 inquired about six different types of support teachers received during the academic year (see Table 1). In all categories, secondary school health education teachers reported they received less support for professional development as compared with secondary teachers of all other subjects, with the exception of full or partial reimbursement of college tuition. In general, three quarters of secondary teachers reported that support for professional development occurred during scheduled time in their contract year. Less than half of all secondary teachers reported receiving support for the remaining five categories of professional development.

Results inquiring about the types of professional support received by newly hired teachers were presented in Table 2. More than 90% of newly hired secondary school health education teachers reported receiving supportive communication with their principal, other administrators, or department chair, as compared with just over three quarters of secondary teachers of all other subjects. Health teachers also reported more support than other all other secondary teachers by having a common planning time with teachers of their subject, receiving extra classroom assistance (e.g., teacher aides), and having a reduced teaching schedule or number of preparations. However, newly hired secondary health education teachers reported less support than newly hired secondary teachers of all other subjects in programs commonly designed specifically for beginning teachers, such as participating in a teacher induction program, working closely with a mentor or master teacher who was assigned by their school district, and having seminars or classes for beginning teachers. These professional development programs may help newly hired teachers enhance instructional skills learned during their college teacher education programs.

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Table 2.

Types of Professional Support Received Among Newly Hired Secondary Public School Health Education Teachers as a Percentage of the Population (N = 297,021).

Survey item	Health education teachers (n = 4,480)	All other teachers (n = 292,541)
	Yes	Yes
During your first year of teaching, did you
Receive regular supportive communication with principal, other administrators, or department chair?	90.4	76.1
Participate in teacher induction program?	74.8	85.7
Work closely with a master or mentor teacher who was assigned by your school or district?	66.4	74.2
Have seminars or classes for beginning teachers?	60.2	65.1
Have common planning time with teachers in your subject?	59.6	50.1
Receive extra classroom assistance (e.g., teacher aides)?	29.2	22.6
Have reduced teaching schedule or number of preparations?	19.5	11.5

Concerning the professional preparation of newly hired teachers, the SASS 2011-2012 asked newly hired teachers how prepared they were in their first year of teaching with regard to eight key instructional skills. Table 3 describes secondary school health education teachers’ responses. Most notably, 90.2% and 88.0% of newly hired secondary health teachers felt they were well prepared or very well prepared to meet state content standards and teach their subject area during their first year of teaching, respectively. In addition, approximately three quarters reported they were well prepared or very well prepared to assess students (76.7%) and use computers for instruction (74.1%) during their first year of instruction. However, over one third of newly hired secondary health teachers reported they were only somewhat prepared or not at all prepared in the remaining instructional skills, such as use of a variety of instructional methods (36.2%) and differentiating instruction in the classroom (35.4%). They felt least prepared by reporting they were not at all prepared or somewhat prepared in handling a range of classroom management or discipline situations (42.6%) and using data from student assessment to inform instruction (44.7%).

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Table 3.

Perceptions of Professional Preparation Among Newly Hired K-12 Public School Health Education Teachers as a Percentage of the Population (N = 4,480).

	Prepared
Survey item	Not at all	Somewhat	Well	Very well	Total
In your first year of teaching, how prepared were you to
Meet state content standards?	1.0	8.8	43.4	46.8	100.0
Teach your subject matter?	0.7	11.4	41.5	46.5	100.0
Assess students?	2.1	21.5	55.3	21.4	100.0
Use computers in classroom instruction?	1.6	24.3	56.9	17.2	100.0
Differentiate instruction in the classroom?	1.9	33.5	54.5	10.2	100.0
Use a variety of instructional methods?	1.0	35.2	50.5	13.3	100.0
Handle a range of classroom management or discipline situations?	4.6	38.0	41.2	16.3	100.0
Use data from student assessment to inform instruction?	4.8	39.9	46.6	8.8	100.0

Discussion

The WSCC model focuses on aligning public health and education to improve each child’s cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development (CDC, 2015). Health education, a component of the WSCC model, emphasized health education instruction that is taught by trained health education teachers and incorporates characteristics of an effective health curriculum. One characteristic of an effective health curriculum is ongoing professional development for teachers. The importance of professional development, in general, as a characteristic of effective teaching has been given increased importance worldwide, which has resulted in increased emphasis on funding of teachers’ professional development activities (Caena, 2011; Fraser, Kennedy, Reid, & Mckinney, 2007). Most recently, in the United States, Title II funds from the ESSA offer support so that all teachers have professional development opportunities to improve their instructional knowledge and skills to positively affect student achievement. For health education teachers, professional development provides them with the knowledge and skills to not only improve student learning but also to positively influence the health and well-being of all students. Health education teachers do this by employing planned learning experiences that include a skills-based approach to health education, which provides student with the opportunity to acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills they need to make health promoting-decisions.

Planned learning experiences are based on an assessment of student health needs. As noted in the 2008 Initial Health Education Teacher Education (HETE) Standards (SHAPE America—Society of Health and Physical Educators, n.d.), graduates of school health education programs should be proficient in conducting needs assessments to determine priorities for school health education. Specifically, health teachers should be able to infer needs for health education from data obtained, align health education curricula with needs assessment data, and use assessment result to guide future instruction.

However, teacher reported data from this study showed that nearly 45% of newly hired health education teachers expressed that they were only somewhat or not at all prepared to use data from student assessment to inform instruction. As noted by Niemi (2015), professional development begins during initial teacher education programs and continues throughout a teacher’s career. Findings from this study suggest that professional development opportunities for newly hired health education teachers should be coordinated with initial teacher education programs to support HETE standards that target skills needed to use student assessment data to guide instruction, thereby providing a continuum of professional support for novice health teachers.

Although the HETE Standards state that teacher candidates should exhibit competence in classroom management (SHAPE America—Society of Health and Physical Educators, n.d.), over 40% of newly hired health education teachers reported that they were somewhat or not at all prepared to handle a range of classroom management or discipline situations. Again, with coordinated efforts between HETE programs and teacher professional development for newly hired health teachers, their instructional needs to become highly effective teachers may be achieved. For example, professional development support in the form of teacher induction programs have been found to be effective in helping new teachers successfully demonstrate classroom management skills (Ingersoll & Strong, 2011).

However, this study found that as compared with newly hired secondary teachers of all other subjects, newly hired health education teachers were less likely to have participated in teacher induction programs or have seminars or classes for beginning teachers. Furthermore, they were less likely to have been assigned to work closely with a master or mentor teacher. Findings from this study suggest school districts improve their professional development opportunities for newly hired health teachers that are designed specifically to support beginning teachers. As noted by Ingersoll and Strong (2011), many studies have shown that teacher inductions program had positive impacts on classroom instructional practices and student achievement. Furthermore, the European Commission (2010) emphasized the importance of support for new teachers in the form of induction programs when new teachers are confronted with the realities of daily teaching and the importance of mentoring during teacher induction programs. Therefore, based on findings from this study, recommendations regarding newly hired health teachers are twofold: School districts should not only provide beginning health teachers professional development that serves as a continuum of initial teacher education programs but also provide health education teachers with the same access to teacher induction programs, seminars, or classes offered to their beginning teachers of all other subjects.

Moreover, professional development programs for beginning teachers may help bridge the gap between initial teacher education and continuous professional development with regard to enhancing health education teachers’ instructional skills in the classroom. In this study, over one third of newly hired secondary health teachers reported they were ill prepared to use a variety of instructional methods and differentiate instruction in the classroom. And as previously noted, the health education component of the WSCC model stresses implementation of characteristics of effective health curricula that requires ongoing professional development and training for teachers so that they are skilled in implementing effective health education strategies (CDC, 2015).

More favorable results from this study showed that more than 90% newly hired health teachers reported receiving regular supportive communication with their principal, other administrator, or department chair. Also, as compared with newly hired secondary teachers of all other subjects, a greater percentage of newly hired health teachers reported having a common planning time with teachers in their subject. Approximately 60% and 50% of newly hired secondary health teachers and secondary teachers of all other subjects reported common planning time, respectively. Notably, more school districts could provide opportunities for common planning time among teachers of the same subject. These professional development opportunities are advantageous for school districts to include in their school improvement plans as research has found that collaborative and collegial learning environments are essential components of effective professional development (Caena, 2011; Darling-Hammond et al., 2009; European Commission, 2010; Niemi, 2015; Wei, Darling-Hammond, Andree, Richardson, & Orphanos, 2009). Based on findings from this study, health teachers are encouraged to continue building their professional support network by seeking advice and assistance from additional district staff (e.g., Director of Curriculum and Instruction) and the school community (e.g., social workers).

Other research has highlighted the role school district leaders play in supporting and encouraging professional development for teachers, such as providing time for teachers to participate in professional development (Caena, 2011; Desimone & Garet, 2015). Support for professional development also includes financial contributions from school districts so that teachers may pursue professional development opportunities. For five of the six areas of professional support identified in the SASS teacher questionnaire (see Table 1), secondary health education teachers reported less support as compared with secondary teachers of all other subjects.

These results show an inequity related to professional development support for secondary health teachers, which may have been a result of No Child Left Behind, a U.S. Act of Congress that provided funds to States for extra educational assistance to improve students’ academic progress. With No Child Left Behind, emphasis was placed on “core academic subjects” (e.g., mathematics and English language arts) for which health was excluded. To date, the ESSA emphasized a well-rounded education for all students, including health education, and therefore offers school districts an opportunity to provide equal access for all teachers to high-quality professional development that improves learning and academic success for all students. With this new legislation, health teachers have the opportunity to receive equal access to professional development opportunities as compared with all other secondary teachers.

Wei et al. (2009) states that high-quality or effective professional development incorporates research that links teacher development to student learning. The researchers further stated that professional development had strong effects if it focused on specific knowledge and pedagogical skills. This study showed that approximately three quarter of secondary health education teachers reported participating in a professional activity that was specific to the subject they taught; however, once again, this rate was lower than secondary teachers of all other subjects. A higher percentage of secondary teachers of all other subjects reported participating in professional development that was specific to their subject area as compared with secondary health teachers (see Table 1). Furthermore, secondary teachers of all other subjects were more likely to attend workshops, conferences, or training sessions when not presenting, as well as to be reimbursed for workshop and travel expenses, as compared with secondary health teachers.

Finally, professional development should provide teachers with the knowledge and pedagogical skills to create environments that support student achievement that are inclusive and supportive for all students, regardless of race, ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or physical ability. Relatedly, the SASS teacher questionnaire asked respondents if they participated in professional activity about how to teach students with disabilities. This study found that about one third of secondary health teachers reported they had participated professional activity about how to teach students with disabilities, as compared with approximately 40% of teachers of all other subjects. And less than one quarter of all secondary teachers reported participating in professional development on how to teach limited-English proficient student or ELLs. The trend in findings continue as health teachers reported lower professional activity participation rates for this topic area as compared with teachers of all other subjects. These results provide a glimpse of not only of secondary health teachers’ professional development activities but suggests that all secondary teachers’ professional development activities related to creating an environment that is inclusive and support of all children is limited.