Continuing Professional Development
"Health promotion in schools is not just about encouraging children and young people to eat well and to exercise; it encompasses a much broader holistic approach. This approach is called the 'whole school approach', which includes promoting the physical, social, spiritual, mental and emotional wellbeing of all pupils and staff." (Learning and Teaching Scotland)
The Tesco Great School Run provides schools with a great opportunity to formalize active leisure and participation in sport, by creating a fun event that is locally organized but part of a national effort to improve children's health. The event creates an ideal opportunity for goal setting, achievement planning, and practice in making healthy lifestyle choices that support active leisure.
Through their participation in the run, children will experience first-hand the fun they can have taking part in an exciting event and competing either as individuals, in teams, or as classes. By preparing for the event, they can learn how to develop skills of walking, jogging and running, control, co-ordination, balance, and pace, and improve skills and outcomes by reflecting on past performance.
By working in teams or by buddying the less-able, children can learn to work with others to meet a challenge, developing an awareness of the needs of others, and learning from experiences. Children can learn to show care and consideration for others and be sensitive towards their feelings. In short, the run provides a great vehicle for the teaching of most curriculum areas and for the development of a range of personal skills.
This makes the event an ideal focus for continuing professional development both for individuals and for the whole school. It integrates a number of issues that form part of curricula for health-promoting schools, PSHE, PSE, PDMU, Every Child Matters, and Getting it Right for Every Child. The run is not just a one-day health and fitness event but an opportunity to learn about:
- goal-setting
- action-planning
- participation
- co-operation and team work
- achievement, evaluation and review
Teachers can therefore use this as the focus of developments for their CPD programmes. By doing so, they can:
- meet their personal development objectives
- meet whole-school development objectives
- Help to plan further CPD based on holistic health development in the school