Tupakointia koskeva terveyskasvatus peruskoulussa

The purpose of the present study was to analyze health education on smoking in the comprehensive school in the light of the pupil, teacher and textbook determinants of curriculum development. Four different data were collected which complemented each other: 1) pupil (grades 5,7,9) enquiry by questionnaire (N=1664), 2) pupils' written compositions (grades 5,7,9, N=471), 3) teacher enquiry by questionnaire (N=799), 4) civics textbooks (N=15). The study showed that health education on smoking follows the principles of traditional didactics. The topics most utilized were smoking and health, the instruction was teacher-centered or given by class discussion with the help of the black board, posters and brochures. Curricular, textbook and material insufficiencies were the greatest difficulties found in instruction. Only 3 % of female and 13 % of male teachers were daily smokers. In textbooks 85 % of the sentences dealing with smoking included factual information and 15 % affective subject matter. Of the factual sentences 82 % passed on information on long term effects and only 18 % on short term effects of smoking. The pupil data indicated that the pupils were familiar with the general dangers of smoking but they lacked a more precise concept of the effects of smoking on the functioning of the organs. Pupils considered discussion and guest speakers the best teaching methods and audio-visual materials the best teaching materials. Younger pupils gave consistently better gradings both to methods and materials. In conclusion the results indicated that instructional development presupposes a curriculum reform. Pupils' internalization readiness should be taken more into consideration when the curriculum will be revised.