Primary school teachers' awareness of dealing with health care issues at school

Abstract

While pupils with some chronic illnesses, such as, asthma, have been educated in mainstream schools, a growing number of pupils with long-term and sometimes complex needs are also being included in mainstream schools. Therefore, it is important that teachers feel well equipped to respond to the specific needs of this group of pupils, especially since teachers are a major source of support for young people (Mukherjee, Lightfoot & Sloper, 2000). However, a number of studies have found that teachers are ill-informed about a range of conditions. Thus, a quantitative study was conducted in governmental schools in Gozo, amongst primary school teachers, to investigate their awareness of dealing with health care issues at school Questionnaires were handed out to twenty primary school teachers from five randomly selected governmental schools by convenience sampling. The respondents had the liberty of filling the questionnaires, which took no longer than 30 minutes, at the school or in their own home. The findings indicated that the main reason why the respondents found difficulty in dealing with the management of children's health issues was because they were not prepared as how to deal with such issues. It was clear that the respondents lacked the knowledge and education needed in dealing with health care issues. Moreover, all the respondents were willing to attend lectures regarding health issues at school, and the majority felt the need for further education. It is therefore recommended that primary school teachers are given in-service courses and lectures at their schools regarding health care issues.