Teaching health education in early childhood development centres in Cape Coast Metropolis, Ghana

Abstract

Health education has become an integral part of our daily living and it is taught in all levels of education the world over. Employing a quantitative approach the study examined the teaching of health education in early childhood development centers in the Cape Coast municipality, Ghana. Thirty registered early childhood development centers in the metropolis were surveyed and 120 teachers selected by simple random sampling technique. The study revealed that health education is taught in most of the centers but it is taught by people who have no training in health education. It was also established that no in service training is organized for teachers on health education. Again teaching of health education is not monitored and inspected by educational authorities in the metropolis. The study recommends that the educational authorities in the metropolis should assist teachers who handle health education in the early childhood development centers in the form of training and also help the centers to recruit professionals to teach health education. Monitoring of the teaching of health education in the centers should also be given due attention