Abstract
By the time this issue of Pedagogy in Health Promotion (PHP) appears in print, we will be living in a COVID world for over a year. While the availability of effective vaccines raises hopes of a full return to our campuses and workplaces, we can presuppose that things will be different. The education field has experienced profound upheaval during the pandemic. Some changes will be permanent, and perhaps, for the better.
In their editorial published in the September 2020 issue of PHP, Devin Bowles and Marguerite Sendall (2020) astutely identify several areas in public health higher education requiring attention in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They note the importance of attending to pastoral care—encompassing the emotional, social, and spiritual support needs of students and educators—during these difficult times. Another point they raise is the need for updated curricula that directly address dealing with pandemics, including countering misinformation. Additionally, the shift to digital teaching requires new approaches to student engagement, and reexamination of learning preferences. These issues compel us to advance “a new public health pedagogy for a potentially new world” (Bowles & Sendall, 2020).
We include in this issue of PHP a group of articles focused on teaching in the time of COVID. These pieces prompt us to reflect on how education in health promotion and public health can build on this critical moment, and evolve toward a more responsive and robust future. The articles bear a number of lessons for addressing the above-mentioned points raised by Bowles and Sendall (2020). Innovative paradigms for developing compassionate, empathetic, and collectivist responses to the psychosocial needs of academic community members can be found in harm reduction frameworks (Burke et al., 2021) and trauma-informed approaches (Harper & Neubauer, 2021). A major lesson from the pandemic is the importance of training in effective health communication, including conveying messages about structural inequities (Mandelbaum, 2021). Remote education is likely here to stay, and now is the time to begin reflecting on the effectiveness and benefits of online learning (Walker et al., 2021). The online format challenges us to identify creative approaches to student support and engagement (Haardörfer & Livingston, 2021), and expand learning options for students and communities for whom traditional approaches may not be optimal (Nava Buenfil et al., 2021). Remote learning situations present teachable moments for cultivating meaningful community collaboration, always a critical aspect of health promotion education (Flores et al., 2021).
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates the relevance of global public health irrespective of where we live. Sharing pedagogical insights from various regions and countries will enrich and fortify teaching practice across the global community of health promotion and public health educators. PHP is proud to introduce a new section in this issue: Pedagogy in Global Health Promotion. We aim to regularly publish pieces addressing education in global health and in a global context. As noted by Marguerite Sendall (2021) in her editorial in this issue, we need ongoing dialogue and critical examination of our pedagogical approaches and practices if we are to develop a global health promotion workforce that can meet current and future challenges.
As always, we invite you to join the conversation, wherever you teach!
