Health knowledge construction and pedagogical style in Finnish health education textbooks

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to compare the construction of health knowledge in the Finnish National Curriculum and recent Finnish Health Education textbooks, at primary and secondary levels of education. We further examined the visual and textual content of the textbooks in an attempt to identify their pedagogical style and approach to health education. Design/methodology/approach – The study was part of an international, European Union funded, FP6 STREP project, Biohead-Citizen. Conceptual health knowledge construction was analysed evaluating the emphasis placed on a biomedical model (BM) or on a health promotion approach (HP). Pedagogical style of the text and illustration was classified as either neutral, persuasive, participative or injunctive out of which especially persuasive and participative reflect the constructionist approach. Findings – The textbooks covered a wide range of health topics and met the core contents of the national curriculum. The approach used was primarily that of health promotion and used a persuasive and participative approach. The pedagogical style of text, tasks and illustrations reflected current pedagogical thinking. Research limitations/implications – The study encourages future research to explore the effects of pedagogical construction on materials and learning in health education. Originality/value – The paper usefully analyzes the pedagogical properties of recent health knowledge textbooks.