Health literacy monitoring data shows that 10th grade pupils and 1st year students of vocational education institutions have the best awareness of mental health, and worst – when it comes to extreme situation survival and first aid, according to information compiled by the State Education Content Centre (VISC).
In the “Mental health” content, youngsters received an average score of 83.4%, whereas in the “Survival in extreme situations, injuries, safety and first aid” content category the average score was 66.6%.
In the content block “Addictive substances and processes”, the knowledge of young people is assessed with an average of 77.4%, “Sexual and reproductive health” – 76.7%, “Nutrition and physical activity” – 74.7%, and “Infections, vaccination and hygiene” – 73.9%.
The results of the health literacy monitoring work basically reflect the knowledge of pupils who have completed primary education in six health education cross-curricular content blocks according to the general primary education standard, explained the VISC.
As the evaluation of results has only just finished, it is too early to draw conclusions, the centre points out. Youngsters’ performance is still to be analysed and discussed with experts. The first findings could be reported within the next week.
The results of the monitoring event are planned to be used in the development and implementation of health literacy policy, as well as improvements in education content, teaching and methodological tools, as well as improvement of teachers’ professional competence.
17 588 students of 10th grade of general education institutions and 1st year students of vocational education institutions participated in the study. Youngsters were asked to answer 50 test questions by selecting one of the answer options. The results of the monitoring study do not affect the assessment of pupils’ learning performance and are not expressed on a ten-point scale.