The innovation challenge: Maintaining programme standards and developing cohesion while developing and testing alternative designs in new kinds of schools

Physical education (PE) and health education offer a natural environment for social and emotional learning (SEL) teaching and learning, feasibly contending that SEL may be the backbone of a PE programme. Movement is a powerful learning form; it is emotional and interactive. The principal public policy dealing with health promotion in school settings in the USA has been the coordinated school health programme. In 2014, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed and introduced the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child model. Health promoting schools are multi-component interventions focused on children’s health using educational, curricular, environmental practices, and policies designed to positively impact the school and community where the child lives. An important dimension of health promoting schools is that, while the essential components remain a focus of all implementation, it is operationalized differently within and across countries.