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17 - School Health Policies and Practices

Ethical Entanglements and a Call for Criticality

from Part II - Ethics and Education in Practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2024

By
Carolyn Pluim  and
Michael Gard
Edited by
Sheron Fraser-Burgess ,
Jessica Heybach  and
Dini Metro-Roland
Sheron Fraser-Burgess
Affiliation:
Ball State University, Indiana
Jessica Heybach
Affiliation:
Florida International University
Dini Metro-Roland
Affiliation:
Western Michigan University
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Summary

This chapter explores health policies and practices in schools, paying special attention to the presumed placement of health in schools and the ethical entanglements that arise because of this supposition. Evidence is provided to demonstrate that school health–related policies and practices are rarely born out of neutral “habits of mind” but are often influenced by various political, moral, and empirical agendas. In providing these historical and contemporary examples, research reveals important complexities and contestations. Ultimately, the chapter highlights the ethical problematics that are bound up in the taken-for-grantedness on giving schools complicated social problems to remedy. The chapter provides an alternative approach to health education through encouraging teachers and students to engage in critical explorations of existing health policies and projects. The authors hope to help unravel entanglements, expose contradictions, and shed light on the some of the ethical quandaries of these health-related projects.

Keywords

school healthhealth policiespolitics of care
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Ethics and Education , pp. 352 - 372
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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