Health education and the school curriculum

THIS article considers the kind of issues which are raised by the possibility of including one par ticular topic, that of infant feed ing, set within the general context of parenthood educa tion. The intention is to draw out some more general issues about the inclusion of this kind of health education 'topic' within the school curriculum: issues about what can be in cluded, how it can be included, and the implications for other aspects of the school's work. The argument is: firstly, that there is a case for including education for infant feeding in the school curriculum; secondly, that the case for its inclusion implies the adoption of certain models of health education, and the rejection of others; thirdly, that these models have implica tions for how the topic is taught, when and by whom; and fourthly, that there are further implications for consistency of teaching methods and for the general ethos of the school.