HEALTH INSTRUCTION RESPONSIBILITIES FOR ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM TEACHERSIN PENNSYLVANIA

A joint committee comprised of representatives from the American Schoo l Health Association and the Association for the Advancement of Health Education delineated free areas of instructional responsibility and 3 1 competencies needed for elementary health educators. Practicing elem entary educators in southeastern Pennsylvania were surveyed as to thei r usage and perceived importance of these health instruction responsib ilities and competencies. Competency usage varied from a high of 98.6% to a low of 33.5% The second area of instructional responsibility-Ass essing the Health Instruction Needs and Interest of Elementary Student s-had the highest mean usage per competency. Chi-square tests indicate d a statistically significant relationship for competency usage and hi ghest academic degree earned for two competency usage and total number of years experience as an elementary educator indicated a statistical ly significant relationship for three competencies. The authors conclu de with suggested strategies to improve the health education preparati on of elementary educators.