Helmholtz Munich and AOK Bayern are expanding the clever.gesund health program to promote health literacy for children and young people
The earlier people start practicing a healthy lifestyle, the greater the benefits. This is why children and young people in particular should be strengthened in their health literacy - this is the central goal of the clever.gesund program. After a three-year development phase, the health project will once again enter the continuation phase at Helmholtz Munich in February 2025 with funding from AOK Bayern. The project kicked off with the “clever.gesund in der Schule unterwegs” symposium on January 22 in Nuremberg with representatives from schools and research. At the event, results and pilot projects from the pilot phase were presented and new approaches for expanding the program were discussed.
In the second funding phase from February 2025 to September 2028, the clever.gesund health program will actively support schools in implementing their own health projects. To this end, the online platform set up in the first project phase will be continuously expanded with new content, including on exercise and relaxation, and specially tailored to the target group. The range of further training courses for teachers and school social workers is also being expanded. The aim is to establish a sustainable, broad-based health literacy offering for children and young people as well as teachers. The results of the symposium offer valuable suggestions for this.
“The best way to strengthen the health literacy of children and young people is to involve them directly in the programs - as is the case with 'clever.gesund'. One major success of the health project is the development of an information and learning platform with the direct involvement of pupils and teachers. We are pleased that concrete and successful individual health-promoting projects have already emerged from this and that we can now promote further, sustainable expansion,” explained Dr. Irmgard Stippler, Chairwoman of the Board of AOK Bayern, in the run-up to the symposium.
“It's about the future of our children and young people - we are working hard for their healthy future!” emphasized Prof. Martin Hrabě de Angelis, Research Director at Helmholtz Munich, in his welcoming address at the symposium in Nuremberg. “With our lighthouse program clever.gesund, we are focusing on scientifically sound information that is presented in a way that is understandable for schoolchildren. In this way, we are strengthening the health literacy of children and young people.”
At the event in Nuremberg, teachers, school administrators, pupils and representatives of teachers' associations, school advisory services and authorities from all over Bavaria came together to share their experiences from the pilot phase with scientists. They looked at the successes of the program to strengthen health literacy and prevention in schools to date and discussed new approaches and topics for the expansion of the program.
Among other things, teachers and pupils from the pilot schools presented the projects they had developed together with clever.gesund, including
- “5 a day - fruit and vegetables get us going” with a radio report from the Staatl. Realschule für Knaben in Immenstadt
- “Healthy snacks” from the Jacob Ellrod School in Gefrees or
- “Instructions for independent use of the gym” from the Oskar-Maria-Graf-Gymnasium in Neufahrn.
Information and learning platform for imparting knowledge and practice
The core of the program is the clever.gesund information and learning platform with scientifically sound, multimedia-based health information. During the three-year pilot phase, the platform was developed and refined together with pupils and teachers. This approach is based on the principle of design thinking. The innovation approach is used in science and industry to develop user-oriented solutions. For teachers, the platform offers a separate area with project examples, learning units and teaching materials for implementing their health projects.
You can find the clever.gesund platform at: www.clever-gesund-info.de