Abstract
Ojective: Inspired by the concepts of the cosmopolitan person and democratic health education, and based on findings from the primary school program MEL, this paper discusses the primary school classroom as a setting for educating students to become health agents with a cosmopolitan outlook, understanding and agency towards global inequality in health.
Methods: MEL facilitates cultural meetings, primarily Skype-based, between students from Kenya and Denmark, with the aim to promote reflections on differences and similarities in the everyday living conditions across cultures and nations, and their impact on health practices. Findings from the programme consist of 18 focus group interviews, with a total of 72 Danish and 36 Kenyan students.
Results: Students gain insight into the daily life of peers in Kenya and Denmark. The cultural meetings awaken students interest and general engagement in global health. They gained insight into their own and their peers’ conditions for health. E.g. connected to access to education, food cultures, gender and family structure.
Conclusion: Mirroring ones own health practices in that of peers from another culture appeared to support learning process of global health literacy. Thus, in line with Dewey’s cosmopolitan person, students become much more reflexive about their own health practices and conditions for health, while they simultaneously learn and become open to and interested in daily life practices and conditions for health in the other cultures. Thus, indicating merit for this kind of education as a way to promote students health agency and understandings of global health conditions.
Methods: MEL facilitates cultural meetings, primarily Skype-based, between students from Kenya and Denmark, with the aim to promote reflections on differences and similarities in the everyday living conditions across cultures and nations, and their impact on health practices. Findings from the programme consist of 18 focus group interviews, with a total of 72 Danish and 36 Kenyan students.
Results: Students gain insight into the daily life of peers in Kenya and Denmark. The cultural meetings awaken students interest and general engagement in global health. They gained insight into their own and their peers’ conditions for health. E.g. connected to access to education, food cultures, gender and family structure.
Conclusion: Mirroring ones own health practices in that of peers from another culture appeared to support learning process of global health literacy. Thus, in line with Dewey’s cosmopolitan person, students become much more reflexive about their own health practices and conditions for health, while they simultaneously learn and become open to and interested in daily life practices and conditions for health in the other cultures. Thus, indicating merit for this kind of education as a way to promote students health agency and understandings of global health conditions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication date | 2016 |
| Publication status | Published - 2016 |
| Event | ECER - Dublin, Ireland Duration: 23 Aug 2016 → 26 Aug 2016 |
Conference
| Conference | ECER |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | Ireland |
| City | Dublin |
| Period | 23/08/2016 → 26/08/2016 |