Assessing children’s health literacy using a curricular approach: Tasmanian primary school teacher perspectives

Abstract

Improving teachers’ understanding of how they can support children’s health literacy development relies on having appropriate measurement tools. A curricular approach to health literacy assessment is one possible means of overcoming the limitations of existing approaches. In a curricular approach, health literacy progress can be recorded through open-ended assessments, linked to curriculum learning descriptors and assessed against health literacy rubrics. Using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis, this study explored generalist primary teachers’ opinions of the suitability, acceptability, and feasibility of the proposed approach. It was found that it may only be suitable in schools where generalist teachers are responsible for teaching health education and assessing health literacy. Teachers had positive views of the framework (acceptability) but believed that barriers (e.g. lack of time and confidence) could hinder feasibility. Suggestions to support the adoption of a curricular approach included receiving further professional development, and the clear allocation of teaching time and responsibility.