Health

3.1.
 
It is well documented that healthy nutrition is very important for our lives. However, only a few people practice it and they are mainly adults who have fallen ill or sports people. Young people are not interested in a healthy diet and prefer meals and drinks that are eaten and drunk quickly by their own age-group. They have sufficient information about healthy nutrition from school lessons and public press but they perceive it as a theory. Therefore we decided to introduce healthy nutrition in a less formal way. The following activities a re described fully in the best practices section.
 
Our health science teacher suggested to students that they could prepare some small healthy meals and bring them to the classrooms where other students could taste them. The teacher explained why those meals were suitable for health and how they affected the digestive system and whole body as well. All participants were surprised how tasty the meals were. Recipes of all the meals were printed and exchanged among interested people. This way the students were encouraged to cook for their families, siblings and friends. They were able to use their theoretical knowledge to prepare a really healthy meal and they also learned that healthy meals can be prepared easily and inexpensively as well.
 
There is a class in our school that organises a Snack Day once a week. These students make and bring healthy snacks and share them. Examples of healthy cooking were various vegetable and fruit salads, kinds of spread /cheese, fish, meat, kinds of canapé, vegetarian pizza, simple pasta, cottage cheese desserts, etc.
 
Healthy nutrition in VET programmes
 
Our second activity related to our aim of healthy nutrition was a Day of Health that was held in February 2012. Students were informed about the programme on a school notice board in advance. The programme included a lecture by a nutrition specialist who spoke about the impact of healthy and unhealthy nutrition on the human body. After that they split into groups according to their interests and took part in many different activities related to healthy lifestyle. Our students appreciated this special day at school and suggested organising similar events more often.
 
We have learned how important it is to inform and encourage young people to eat and live healthily. These young people will influence the next generation to eat properly and lead more active lives.
 
3.2.
 
Promoting a healthy lifestyle and giving motivation to young people to take care of their fitness and lead an active life is an ever challenging task of our society. Although in most countries the issue is dealt with at the highest strategic levels, and there are continuous efforts to include it in national curriculums, attention is often distracted from motion and fitness towards more cognitive-oriented subjects. However, the importance of physical exercises, motion and in general a positive attitude to a healthy lifestyle is scientifically proven to have major effects on the overall well-being of people. Directly, in the long run, the lack of adequate physical exercise can lead to several illnesses and reduced performance. Indirectly, it can have a negative effect on many factors of life including performance in the workplace, mental capability, mood, etc. Special focus should be paid to younger generations, as their whole attitude towards an active and healthy lifestyle can depend on the impulses gained at this early stage.
 
There could be several ways to include motion and fitness into VET education:
 
1. Include it as a separate unit into the subjects taught at the institution. Obviously, this has limits as to the official national curriculum, the local curriculum, human
resources etc.
2. Include the topic of motion and fitness in a more hidden way into the thematics of other subjects. Expand the quantity of motion by applying methods such as “learning by doing” for example or just raising awareness about the importance of motion.
3. Having it as an extra-curricular activity either on a regular or just occasional basis. This can include campaigns on different sports or try-out classes where youngsters can experience the benefit of an exercise directly.

Trebag, in cooperation with the local vocational school, implemented the third version. The local vocational school is a branch school of Piliscsaba Agriculture and Forestry Vocational School, where students between the ages of 14-18 learn various professions. These include, for example, tourism and catering. We addressed students of tourism as for them understanding and pursuing a healthy lifestyle is not only generally important but also can be very closely related to their actual profession.
 
Nowadays active tourism has become a popular trend and employees in the sector have to train themselves to know about various ways of active pastimes to be able to recommend to clients different activities as well as be able to plan programmes, venues etc accordingly. To be updated, and thus have better chances in the labour market, young students need to have an overall view on opportunities. As Nordic Walking is a very effective and also easily realisable sport, its knowledge is essential for students of tourism. Therefore, with a trained trainer we organised an intensive course for the students and their teachers where they could acquire the basics of Nordic Walking and also could learn about its benefits and potential use in their future sectorial environments. The course was successful
and as a result was transferred to other target groups too, and finally Trebag elaborated an educational video about the basic steps for Nordic Walking.
 
What is Nordic Walking? Nordic Walking has been developed from northern ski running. It was used as supplementary training when there was no snow, and then, from the beginning of the 90s, it developed into a separate sport. Its main advantage is that it moves the whole body, thus the joints and muscles of the legs, the upper torso and the posteriors as well. It is very popular especially in Northern countries, Germany and Austria, but has been spread all over the world now.

There are no national campaigns in Slovenia dealing with the health of tourism employees. However, a project coordinated by the Slovenian Tourist Board (STB), the main national tourist organisation in Slovenia, can be used as example.
 
STB’s mission is to plan and perform the promotional activities of Slovenia as a tourist destination and to position Slovenia as a clearly and easily recognisable country. The latter is the key to success in the extremely competitive tourism market. In order to achieve this STB has set a goal to promote Slovenia as a green, active and healthy country. All the activities of recent years tie in with the I FEEL SLOVENIA brand and support the idea of SLOVENIA GREEN.
 
STB believes that a clean environment and unspoilt nature are competitive advantages which are a condition both for the sustainable development of tourism in a country and for maintaining a quality way of life for its inhabitants. STB decided to introduce environmental management measures and standards in their offices in the hope of encouraging Slovenia’s (tourism) industry and destinations towards the development of green tourism. One of the measures introduced includes care for the well-being of STB’s employees, since their self-health awareness and environmental consciousness will influence both their productivity and work efficiency on the one hand and their perception and communication of the Slovenia Green idea on the other.
 
 
 
The Slovenia-Friendly Office project
 
Given that we spend more than a third of the day in the workplace we should be aware that sometimes even our everyday office activities can have a negative impact on the environment, along with certain bad habits that have crept into our everyday routine. STB has decided to introduce some new elements and measures into their office activities to help reduce negative impacts on the environment, nature and people.
 
The “greening” of the offices takes place as part of the Slovenia Friendly Office – SLOVENIA GREEN project that was devised with external help. The project focuses on the following indicators:
– waste and material flow,
– energy consumption,
– water,
– transport,
– well-being.
 
The main aim of the project is to reduce negative impacts on the environment, nature and consequently (local) inhabitants. On the one hand energy-saving measures and operations were introduced through which operating costs are reduced, on the other hand an eco-team of employees was formed. Its goal is to
increase the level of environmental education among STB’s employees and as such set an example for the entire public administration, the business sector and households. STB believes that only environmentally aware employees can protect the environment and also their own health and well-being.
 
Well-being of employees
 
Special care was paid to employees, their well-being in the work environment and their health in general. Ergonomics was employed to fulfil the goals of health and productivity. Eco-team was formed to take care of the measures, such as:
– functional office equipment (including position of table, light)
 
– electronic equipment (quality of material used, eco- material) ergonomic equipment (chairs, tables) health advice (quality of office air, how to sit, what to wear that is comfortable, healthy nutrition, movement).
 
– Employees were encouraged to use public transport, walk or cycle instead of coming to work and/or going to meetings by car. Bus tickets were purchased and available to all who needed to exit the building during work hours and attend a meeting in Ljubljana. Additionally, one bicycle was purchased and made available to all 30 employees.

Motivating people, especially the younger generation, can be a difficult task at times. This is not because these young people are considered lazy, but a healthy lifestyle at their age is not so much a priority. Therefore programmes and activities organised to raise their interest and knowledge in a healthy lifestyle have to catch  their attention in some way. Just listening to lectures about how to eat healthily and joining general and boring P.E. will just not do the trick. These activities have to be really interesting, avoiding the general information about how healthy fruits are and how unhealthy sweets can be because everyone knows it already. It is not a secret. Our task was, and still is, to create events and activities where vocational school students can enjoy themselves and gather knowledge through interesting activities.
 
During the project the partners planned and implemented different kind of activities. There were both serious and joyful events with different approaches, focusing on healthy food or physical exercises and even some on mental health. The aim was common: to draw the students’ attention on how important their health really is and how this will affect their later life either regarding work or family.
 
The slightly different characteristics of the project partners secured that the best practice activities would be varied, and they were. During the 2 years of the project all partners held at least one health day, organised bilateral programmes with each other, and shared the ideas and experiences, ensuring that the final guidebook and DVD is a valuable product.
 
During the project we received feedback on the activities we carried out. Most of them could be considered a success, both on expertise and pleasure side. The participating students learned about the importance of taking care of their health during their younger years, and could give and receive information and useful skills on the topic, as some of the students are involved in health education as part of their studies. Participating organisations became enthusiastic in exploring ways of incorporating the activities into their learning programmes.
 
As a final conclusion we can acknowledge that the project all in all was a success, both for the learning partnership and the project products.

Heb-Vet has been a wide network of European institutions which have shared their experiences on how healthy lifestyles can improve the achievements of students involved in vocational and educational training. The main results have been the celebration of the ‘Day of health’ at each organisation and the shooting of a video showing the activities carried out. There were also some unexpected results, such as the ‘healthy games’, which can be easily transferred and also could be the starting point for future co-operation agreements.
 
Partner organisations are happy with the involvement of teachers and students in this project. Many of them took an active part at the transnational meetings held throughout the last two years. Students learned how physical exercise or healthy food habits can improve their lifestyles and some of them reported actual changes in their daily behaviour.
 
Co-operation between partners and the European added value given to each organisation have been the most valued items by the partners. Managing such a huge partnership is not always easy and communication barriers were overcome with a special effort by those teachers, trainees and delegates who were not fluent in English. This has been an extra learning experience for them.