Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Gesundheitskompetenzforschung (IZGK)
Health literate school:
Organizational development for strengthening health literacy in the school setting (GeKoOrg-Schule)
Objective
The aim of the model project "Health Competent School: Organizational Development for Strengthening Health Competence in the Setting School (GeKoOrg-Schule)" is to transfer the concept of the "Health Competent Organization" to school educational institutions in Germany. Through the holistic organizational approach in the school setting, school structures and school-related networks are to be optimized with regard to health literacy and, at the same time, the strengthening of health literacy in different population groups is to be addressed. In the medium and long term, the personal health literacy of girls and boys as well as school stakeholders will be strengthened sustainably via the system level by means of a relationship-oriented, school-related approach to organizational development. In this context, organizational development includes the improvement of the framework conditions for strengthening health literacy in the school setting as well as all connected networks and involved actors. It is planned to link this concept with the approach of the "Good Healthy School" in order to integrate health literacy into already existing and successful concepts, to use the experiences in this field profitably and to ensure the fit to the current approach of health promotion and prevention in schools. The project is located at the Center for Interdisciplinary Health Literacy Research (IZGK) at Bielefeld University. Within the project, actors from school practice are to play a weighty role - especially here in the region and NRW, but also nationally. The project with the associated network and partnerships entered into here should help to continue to think education and health together in schools in the future. Examples from Austria, the USA and Australia currently show that this cooperation approach is promising and can break down access barriers with regard to the topic of health literacy. The aim is to make health literacy compatible with existing school and competence approaches.
