The WhSA Group
On 7 November 2012 a working group for the international dissemination of the Whole School Approach (WhSA) was established on the occasion of the workshop “Mainstreaming OSH into education: Towards a culture of prevention”, jointly organized by ENETOSH, EU-OSHA, ILO, ISSA, and NIOSH. The workshop took place on 6-8 November 2012 at the ILO Training Centre Turin, Italy.
Aim of the group
- To improve the quality of education and educational establishments by the means of health and safety
- To mainstream the whole-school approach internationally
- To consolidate the already existing material concerning Mainstreaming OSH into education
- To improve the link between Good practice and Research within the field
- To support countries during their process of the integration of OSH into education according to their needs
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The Whole School Approach: The Good Healthy School
Presentation by Prof. Dr. Peter Paulus (Leuphana University Lueneburg)
and Dr. Heinz Hundeloh (DGUV)
What is the whole-school approach?
The whole school-approach is basically a “holistic approach”.
Two different perspectives
There are two different perspectives concerning this approach: Firstly, the whole school approach is a management approach which encompasses the whole educational establishment: learning content, the learning and work environments, school management, advanced teacher training, the students, the parents and the entire community. Secondly the whole-school approach stands for a paradigm shift: It’s no longer just about education promoting safety and health but rather safety and health as a means of promoting quality in education.
Paradigm shift
When taken from the second perspective, safety and health has the opportunity to become part of the core educational establishment or put more simply: “If you feel better, you learn better” (Peter Paulus).
The German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV) has developed a concept for integrating safety and health into education which has gained worldwide recognition. The name of this concept is “Good Healthy Schools”. According to this concept, developing a culture of prevention contributes to the quality of an educational institute (a school, a university). As such, health and safety is seen as a tool that “serves” the school and not the other way round (Heinz Hundeloh).
However, a core requirement for the success of this approach is for OSH experts to become passionate about the pedagogical aspect.
For an article describing the whole-school approach in the OSH WIKI please click here.
The whole school-approach is basically a “holistic approach”.
Two different perspectives
There are two different perspectives concerning this approach: Firstly, the whole school approach is a management approach which encompasses the whole educational establishment: learning content, the learning and work environments, school management, advanced teacher training, the students, the parents and the entire community. Secondly the whole-school approach stands for a paradigm shift: It’s no longer just about education promoting safety and health but rather safety and health as a means of promoting quality in education.
Paradigm shift
When taken from the second perspective, safety and health has the opportunity to become part of the core educational establishment or put more simply: “If you feel better, you learn better” (Peter Paulus).
The German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV) has developed a concept for integrating safety and health into education which has gained worldwide recognition. The name of this concept is “Good Healthy Schools”. According to this concept, developing a culture of prevention contributes to the quality of an educational institute (a school, a university). As such, health and safety is seen as a tool that “serves” the school and not the other way round (Heinz Hundeloh).
However, a core requirement for the success of this approach is for OSH experts to become passionate about the pedagogical aspect.
For an article describing the whole-school approach in the OSH WIKI please click here.
Members of the WhSA group:
Name | Dr Ulrike Bollmann |
Institution | Institute for Work and Health (IAG) of the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV) |
ulrike.bollmann@dguv.de | |
Tel | +49 352 45 71510 |
Address | Institute for Work and Health of the DGUV (IAG) Koenigsbruecker Landstr. 2 01109 Dresden Germany |
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Name | Sue Boychuk (retd) |
Institution | Ministry of Labour Ontario |
erin.cunningham@ccohs.ca | |
Tel | +1 416 212 3206 |
Address | 400 University Avenue, 12th floor M7A1T7 Toronto Canada |
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Name | Jutta Busch |
juttab089@gmail.com | |
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Name | Lester Claravall |
Institution | Oklahoma Department of Labor |
lester.claravall@labor.ok.gov | |
Tel | +1 405-521-6591 |
Address | 3017 North Stiles, Suite 100 73105 Oklahoma City United States of America |
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Name | Sharon Rosly Ann Patterson |
sharonpat03@gmail.com | |
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Name | Wah-shing Tang |
Institution | Occupational Safety and Health Council Hong Kong |
vicky@oshc.org.hk | |
Tel | 852 2116 5663 |
Address | 19/F China United Centre 28 Marble Road North Point HKSAR |
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Associated experts: | |
Research: | |
Name | Prof Dr Peter Paulus |
Institution | Leuphana University Lueneburg |
paulus@leuphana.de | |
Tel | +49 41316771702 |
Address | Scharnhorststr. 1 21335 Lüneburg Germany |
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Practice: | |
Name | Dr Heinz Hundeloh |
Institution | Statutory Accident Insurance for the public sector (UK NRW) / Faculty Educational establishments of the DGUV |
h.hundeloh@unfallkasse-nrw.de | |
Tel | +49 211 9024 302 Mobile +49 151 14828845 |
Address | Unfallkasse Nordrhein-Westfalen Sankt-Franziskus-Str. 146 40470 Düsseldorf Germany |