[Evaluation of health education training in a French region]

In the context of the National Health Education Plan launched in 2001, the Nord/ Pas-de-Calais Region engaged itself in reflection and debate on how to improve health education practices. The teaching curricula of health education programmes from the regional paramedical, social and teacher training schools were studied. They were then compared with a set of official texts on the subject (including the national report by Sandrin Berthon) which provide regulations and guidance for this type of teacher training. Teachers and trainers from these institutions were interviewed and questioned about their difficulties and needs. Health education is an optional module in these schools, creating heterogeneity in teaching methods. A shared basis for core teaching materials on subjects in health education does not exist, and specifically, evaluation as a practice is under-developed. These difficulties are therefore exposed, and the article demonstrates the need to provide teachers with a common culture to be shared across these different frameworks and models if one aims to teach health education according to the methods advocated by WHO and Sandrin Berthon's report.