A Process for Updating a Philosophy of Education Statement

Most health education specialists have been introduced to the idea of having a philosophy of education statement. Although some in the field have been writing about this career development exercise, little has been written about the process of developing one’s philosophy of education statement. This brief essay explains a sample process health education specialists can use to create or update their philosophy of education statement. The author gives a firsthand account of a systematic, disciplined, intellectually liberating, and reflective approach to articulating one’s philosophy of education statement, by considering the writings of select intellectual giants who have acted on human experience, thought, and practice in education. A philosophy of education statement should be useful to any health education specialist regardless of type of work, site, position in the organization, population served, or health topic. The resultant updated and precisely written statement serves to sharpen a health education specialist’s future role as a health educator, as well as contribute to his or her journey in lifelong learning.

Establishing cause for developing and implementing a broad-based marketing effort for the health education field

What exactly is health education? Professionals with advanced degrees in health education have most likely encountered questions such as these either during introductory coursework or from those inquiring about the field. These queries can prove quite perplexing when asked by individuals who are unaware of the health education profession. Because the act of marketing health education is crucial to the sustainability of the field, the purpose of this article is to (a) explore the issue of describing and promoting health education, (b) establish ideas that can facilitate the provision of coordinated marketing efforts, and (c) offer marketing management and implementation principles that can assist in marketing both health education and health educators. Based on this discussion, the authors suggest building mainstream consensus in regards to marketing message development and implementation to better position health education.

Marketing Health Educators to Employers: Survey Findings, Interpretations, and Considerations for the Profession

In July 2007, a market research report was produced by Hezel Associates on behalf of five sponsoring health education profession member organizations and the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing. The purpose of the survey was to learn about current or potential employers’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors toward health educators and the health education profession and their future hiring practices. This article presents the background leading up to the production of this report, the major findings of the survey of employers, recommendations from the market research group regarding core messages, and implications for the profession having discovered for the first time information about employers’ understanding of professionally prepared health educators. The article discusses the umbrella and key messages that may be incorporated into a marketing plan and other recommendations by the firm that should assist health educators in marketing the profession. Furthermore, this article presents reactions by leaders in this field to these messages and recommendations and concludes with next steps in this project and a call for the overall need to market the profession of health education.