The Kindergarten to Grade 12 (“K to 12”) Health curriculum aims to assist the Filipino learner in attaining, sustaining and promoting life-long health and wellness. The learning experience through the program provides opportunities for the development of health literacy competencies among students and to enhance their over-all wellbeing.
Health Education from Kindergarten to Grade 10 focuses on the physical, mental, emotional, as well as the social, moral and spiritual dimensions of holistic health. It enables the learners to acquire essential knowledge, attitudes, and skills that are necessary to promote good nutrition; to prevent and control diseases; to prevent substance misuse and abuse; to reduce health-related risk behaviors; to prevent and control injuries with the end-view of maintaining and improving personal, family, community, as well as global health.
Health Education emphasizes the development of positive heath attitudes and relevant skills in order to achieve a good quality of living. Thus, the focus on skills development is explicitly demonstrated in the primary grade levels. Meanwhile, a comprehensive body of knowledge is provided in the upper year levels to serve as a foundation in developing desirable health attitudes, habits and practices.
In order to facilitate the development of health literacy competencies, the teacher is highly encouraged to use developmentally-appropriate learner-centered teaching approaches. This includes scaffolding on student experience and prior learning; utilizing culture-responsive scenarios and materials; incorporating arts, and music in imparting health messages; engaging learners in meaningful games and cooperative learning activities; and using life skills and value-based strategies particularly in discussing sensitive topics such as substance abuse and sexuality. The teacher is also advised to use differentiated instruction in order to cater to the learners’ various needs and abilities.
Conceptual Framework of Health Education
HEALTH CONTENT AREAS
Injury Prevention, Safety and First Aid: Discusses the causes, costs, and prevention of accidents and injuries while performing various activities at home, in school or in the community. Prevention can be done through the promotion of safe environments, the development of safety programs, procedures and services, which includes first aid education and disaster preparedness programs.
Community and Environmental Health: Situates the learner as an integral part of the community and the environment, with a great responsibility of protecting the environment, with the support of individual and community actions and legislation promoting a standard of health, hygiene and safety in food and water supply, waste management, pollution control, pest control, as well as the delivery of primary health care.
Consumer Health: Focuses on the application of consumer knowledge and skills in the effective evaluation, selection and use of health information, products, and services.
Family Health: Covers information on the human life cycle and also on family dynamics that influence an individual’s development of ideals, values and standards of behavior with regard to sexuality and responsible parenthood.
Growth and Development: Emphasizes developmental milestones and health concerns during puberty and adolescence with focus on personal health and the development of self-management skills to cope with life’s changes.
Nutrition: Addresses the importance of eating healthy and establishing good eating habits especially for children and adolescents as a way to enhance health and prevent diseases.
Personal Health: Comprises personal health habits and practices that promote physical, mental, social, emotional, and moral-spiritual health and prevent or manage personal health issues and concerns.
Prevention and Control of Diseases and Disorders: Involves the prevention and control of both communicable and non-communicable diseases and disorders through the development of health habits and practices and the adoption of health programs supported by legislation with provisions on school and community health services.
Substance Use and Abuse: Highlights the prevention and control of the use, misuse, and abuse of substances and drugs by providing comprehensive information on the nature of abused substances, the negative impact of substance abuse on the individual, family and society in general; and the importance of learning and using resistance skills to protect oneself from drug risk-taking behaviors.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HEALTH CURRICULUM
Culture-responsive: Uses the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, and performance styles of the diverse student body to make learning more appropriate and effective for them (Gay, 2000).
Epidemiological: Relates to the incidence, prevalence and distribution of diseases in populations, including detection of the sources and causes of epidemics.
Health and Life skills-based: Applies life skills to specific health choices and behaviors.
Holistic: Analyzes the interrelationship among the factors that influence the health status, the areas of health, and the dimensions of health (physical, mental, social,
emotional, moral and spiritual).
Learner-centered: Focuses on the student’s needs, abilities, interests, and learning styles with the teacher as a facilitator of learning.
Preventive: Characterizes something that helps people take positive health action in order to prevent diseases and to achieve optimum health.
Rights-based: Advances the understanding and recognition of human rights, as laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments.
Standards and outcomes-based: Requires students to demonstrate that they have learned the academic standards set on specific content and competencies.
Values-based: Promotes an educational philosophy based on valuing self, others and the environment, through the consideration of ethical values as the bases of good educational practice.
Key Stage Standards
- K – 3 – The learner demonstrates an understanding and observance of healthy habits and practices in achieving wellness.
- 4 – 6 – The learner demonstrates an understanding of how changes, which are part of growth and development, impact health practices that help achieve and sustain optimum health and wellbeing
- 7 – 10 – The learner demonstrates an understanding of key health concepts related to the achievement, sustainability and promotion of wellness as it improves the quality of life of the individual, the family and the larger community.
GRADE LEVEL STANDARDS:
| GRADE LEVEL | STANDARDS |
|---|---|
| Grade 1 | The learner demonstrates an understanding of the essential concepts related to nutrition and personal health as well as knowledge in injury prevention, safety and first aid, as factors in facilitating the development of healthy habits and practices among individuals. |
| Grade 2 | The learner demonstrates an understanding of personal health; family health; the prevention and control of diseases and disorders; as well as injury prevention, safety and first aid, which are factors that facilitate the development of healthy habits and practices. |
| Grade 3 | The learner demonstrates an understanding and knowledge in the following: nutrition; prevention and control of diseases and disorders; consumer health; and community and environmental health—factors which help in facilitating the development of healthy habits and practices. |
| Grade 4 | The learner demonstrates an understanding of nutrition; prevention and control of diseases and disorders; substance use and abuse; and injury prevention, safety and first aid, leading to the achievement of optimum health and well-being. |
| Grade 5 | The learner demonstrates an understanding of the nature of personal health; growth and development; substance use and abuse; and community and environmental health, which helps to achieve optimum health and well-being. |
| Grade 6 | The learner demonstrates an understanding of personal health, prevention and control of diseases and disorders; consumer health; and injury prevention, safety and first aid to achieve optimum health and well-being. |
| Grade 7 | The learner demonstrates an understanding of growth and development; nutrition; personal health and injury prevention, safety and first aid to achieve, sustain, and promote personal health and wellness. |
| Grade 8 | The learner demonstrates understanding of family health and prevention and control of diseases and disorders (communicable and noncommunicable to achieve, sustain, and promote family health and wellness. |
| Grade 9 | The learner demonstrates understanding of community and environmental health; injury prevention, safety and first aid); and prevention of substance use and abuse to achieve, sustain, and promote community health and wellness |
| Grade 10 | The learner demonstrates understanding of consumer health; national and global health trends, issues and concerns (); the development of a health plan and exploration of careers in health to achieve, sustain, and promote health and wellness. |
Source: DepED – K to 12 Health Curriculum Guide
