Knowledge of High School Teachers Regarding Healthful School Environment in Erbil City

Abstract

Background and Objectives: A healthy school environment focuses on providing a suitable setting for learning and healthy behaviors because the school environment represents an important setting for many children’s social habits and behaviors that are learned at school. The purpose of this study was to assess the high school teachers in Erbil City's public and private schools' knowledge of a healthy learning environment. Method: An across-sectional survey was conducted to determine teachers' knowledge regarding a healthful school environment. The study included 360 teachers in Erbil city, 260 from public schools and 100 from private schools. A questionnaire was constructed for the purpose of data gathering. Results: more than half (64.6%) of teachers of the public schools were aged 38-50 compared with 21% of teachers of the private schools; 51.2% of the teachers of the public schools were male compared with 64% of the private teachers; 81.9% of the teachers in the public schools were married compared with 69% of the private school teachers; and the majority (86%) of the private teachers had Bachelor degrees compared with 95.8% of teachers of the public schools. The highest percentage (74.6%) of the public teachers had a fair level of knowledge compared with 56% of teachers of the private schools. Conclusion: Based on the study findings of the present study, it was concluded that the highest percentage of the teachers had a fair level of knowledge regarding school health policies.

Keywords

• school health policy
• Knowledge
• Teachers