Integrating planetary health education into tertiary curricula: a practical toolbox for implementation

Area of Science:

• Planetary Health Education
• Health Professions Education
• Curriculum Development

Background:

• Existing Planetary Health Education Frameworks face implementation challenges in university settings.
• Integrating planetary health is crucial for addressing the triple planetary crisis.
• Health professional education needs to adapt to evolving global health challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present case studies on implementing the Planetary Health Education Framework in university health professional programs.
• To propose a curriculum implementation and evaluation toolbox for educators.
• To emphasize the integration of an Indigenous lens in planetary health education.

Main Methods:

• Collated case studies from Australia and the United States using a six-stage design-based educational research framework.
• Mapped framework components to develop a curriculum implementation toolbox.
• Employed a framework for teaching planetary health and curriculum evaluation.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated successful integration of the Planetary Health Education Framework across medicine, nursing, public health, and allied health disciplines.
• Highlighted the importance of Indigenous perspectives, community engagement, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
• Case studies informed the development of a practical curriculum implementation toolbox.

Conclusions:

• The proposed toolbox offers practical strategies for educators to integrate planetary health principles.
• Successful implementation requires addressing real-world educational environment challenges.
• These case studies contribute valuable insights to planetary health education literature.