Hire health education teachers for secondary schools who have appropriate qualifications for teaching health and safety classes. At the elementary level and for anyone who is assigned to teach health and safety but is not certified, require at least 6 hours of academic course work or 30 hours of in-service training on health and safety content and pedagogy. Training must include content of the health and safety topics the person is being assigned to teach and methods of teaching relevant social skills.

The teaching of health and safety is complex and dynamic. Those who teach health and safety education should have previous education about health and safety content as well as teaching methodologies that research has shown to be effective.

Appropriate delivery and accurate information are essential components of effective health and safety education. Those who teach health and safety must have the necessary education, qualifications, and skills to perform their tasks, including the ability to deliver skills-based instruction, be effective agents of behavior change, and communicate and work effectively with administrators, other teachers, students, families, and community representatives.

Minimum qualifications of a certified health educator are a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university and a valid state credential authorizing him or her as a teacher of health education. Credentialing indicates there is a commitment to the discipline and to ongoing professional development. The National Council on Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) approves colleges and universities to prepare teachers who are content specialists in health education. State credentialing ensures that teachers have met that state's requirements and completed course work on knowledge and skills that are necessary to teach health and safety subjects. Those teachers certified as health education specialists (CHES) have met standards of competence established by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, and have successfully passed the CHES examination.

Accomplished teachers might also choose to go through a rigorous review process and become board certified. Standards for certification in the field of health education have been established by the National Board for Professional Teaching (29).

1. Allensworth DD. Health education: state of the art. J Sch Health. 1993;63:14-20.

29. National Board for Professional Teaching Standards: Health Education Standards for Teachers of Students Ages 11 - 18. Arlington VA: National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, 2002. Available at: http://www.nbpts.org/pdf/healthstandards.pdf.

43. Teacher not certified to teach health loses job. Sch Health Prof. 1999;5:4.