Investigating Students’, Teachers’ and Parents’ Conceptions about Environment, Health and Health Education

In 2004, the Finnish school system got a new curriculum and it has been used in comprehensive schools since 1st August 2006. The national framework curriculum forms the basis for drawing up local and school curricula. A new school subject is health education starting as an independent subject from the 7th form (age 12–13). At the primary level, it is incorporated into other subjects. Health education needs therefore to be part of pre- and in-service teacher education programmes. The paper reports on the results of a project where the conceptions of teachers, pupils and parents on environment, health and health education have been investigated. The study is a qualitative case study in which a total of 42 teachers, 102 pupils and 53 parents participated voluntarily in the research. The resultant data was collected using questionnaires and theme interviews in autumn 2002 and in spring 2004. The data was analysed by using inductive content analysis methods.