Abstract
With this issue we move into our fourth volume of the first major journal in health promotion and public health to address in a broad way the teaching and learning of preprofessionals and practitioners. In my first message as the editor in chief, I pointed out the part of the journal’s logo that depicts the four major functions of many professionally prepared educators in public health: Teaching, Research, Practice, and Service. This is what we do! Pedagogy in Health Promotion fills a major gap in the dissemination of scholarly work and practice in our field by bringing to the fore the many aspects of teaching.
The approach we take in fulfilling the mission of the journal is to have a conversation about the issues, challenges, questions, ideas, successes, and best practices in our work. To this end, we dedicate sections to not only original research and descriptive best practices but also to Coaching, Reflective articles, and Commentary, and to big ideas in our Perspectives on Pedagogy space. It is important for authors to keep in mind that we want to emphasize the Scholarship part of our work. For a deep understanding of what we mean, please take a look at Dr. Adriana C. de Aguiar’s editorial “Making Sure the ‘Scholarship’ Is in Our Submissions to Pedagogy in Health Promotion” in Volume 3, Number 3. The journal is more than a teaching techniques journal, and we are not apt to publish something “one and done,” unless there is a compelling finding or observation.
Another, and foundational, article for potential authors to read is Drs. Leslie Gail McBride and Amar S. Kanekar’s article “The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Origin, Development, and Implications for Pedagogy in Health Promotion” in Volume 1, Number 1. They do a nice job of explaining how we think about and approach the art and science of teaching and learning.
Each minute of work with the journal has been rewarding. I thank our very supportive editorial board and the important peer reviewers, without whom we could not tout quality assurance in the dissemination of our work. The Society for Public Health Education leadership and staff have been terrific. The Sage Publication leadership and staff have been very attentive to this initiative.
Please consider making a submission, being a peer reviewer, or being a member of the editorial board. A good start is to simply join in the conversation. We are quite accessible. Thank you for reading the journal. And most important thank you for having the courage to teach!