The EU4Health-funded European research network Schools4Health (2023-2026) aims to introduce, strengthen, and sustain the health promoting school (HPS) approach in Europe.
Schools4Health focuses on how different sectors, especially education and health, can work together to enable the transformation of schools into "health promoting schools" with the help and participation of students, teachers, school staff, parents and other stakeholders.
For this purpose, ‘good practices’ in the areas of healthy eating, physical activity, and mental health will be drawn upon, implemented, and evaluated. Health literacy is defined as a cross-cutting theme of this project and is embedded in the health areas of the good practices.
The project will involve 16 schools from eight participating EU countries. Schools4Health will not only demonstrate how HPS approaches contribute to healthier lifestyles for children and young people, but also the extent to which they impact educational outcomes and equity, helping to address related societal challenges such as climate change.
The project will address both practitioners and policy makers. To this end, an online awareness and information campaign will be launched, and a Schools4Health ‘hub’ will be established to aggregate and present the resources produced.
Led by EuroHealthNet, the consortium consists of 13 partners from 10 countries (Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Romania, Slovenia and Spain). Partners include public health institutes and departments, as well as international networks such as the Schools for Health in Europe Network Foundation, the UNESCO Chair Global Health and Education, and the International Sport and Culture Association. The partner organizations and their respective networks have extensive expertise in the areas of health and health promotion in schools and have experience in working with local/regional/national authorities and schools to promote healthy school environments.
Project lead and contact
Prof. Dr. Orkan Okan (project lead)
Denise Renninger, M.Sc. (research fellow)