The promotion of wellbeing and active lifestyles in primary schools through a continuing professional development: an Italian good practice

Over the past decades there has been increasing interest in the role of schools in promoting healthy and active lifestyles. Schools are considered a fertile environment to observe the personal development of individuals and to promote healthy and pro-social behaviours. Therefore, the quality and the typology of teaching clearly contribute to the wellbeing of the educational community. From this perspective, Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is widely recognised as a solid strategy to improve the quality of teaching and learning processes with a specific focus on the promotion of healthy behaviours among students, and a way to provide teachers with ad-hoc competences and skills. CPD is a means to improve school capacity, thus fulfilling educational attainment in view of the additional responsibility linked with the emerging educational needs. The paper reflects on this specific topic by focusing in particular on the Italian context and presenting in details a good practice of CPD. It argues that the provision of professional development opportunities in school has a significant impact not only on the improvement of the professional skills and knowledge but also on the teachers’ capacity to perform program of social intervention at community level focussed on the promotion of healthier and more active behaviours.