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 business of an 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.