The Ontario curriculum supports the needs of today’s students, who require the information, knowledge, and skills necessary to become critical thinkers and to make sound decisions about matters affecting their health and well-being before they have to make decisions in real life.
Since much of the learning addressed in the Health and Physical Education curriculum is personal in nature, particularly in the Healthy Living strand, this learning is intrinsically connected to students’ families and relationships as well as their cultural and religious backgrounds. As such, educators should take extra care and consideration when approaching health concepts, and they should demonstrate sensitivity and respect for individual perspectives. To promote understanding, educators should encourage students to explore many perspectives of health-related issues, identify valid sources of information, and find the information they need. When teaching concepts that must be approached with sensitivity, it is important to responsibly and inclusively provide opportunities for students to learn about diverse views and understand how these may differ from their own. Engaging students in this learning through drama-based approaches will support students in exploring multiple perspectives and learning about diverse views related to health related concepts.
Consult Approaches to Teaching Healthy Living for additional support.