Collaboration within the Context of the Healthy School Approach (HSA) - The Case of a Disadvantaged Elementary School in Quebec

Oct 15, 2026

This case study examines how school-family-community collaboration is built when deploying the Healthy School Approach (HSA) in a low socio-economic status elementary school. Two theoretical frameworks, the HSA and Hoover-Dempsey et al. (1997, 2010), structure the analysis of five discussion groups (N=31) about stakeholders’ perceptions of health in school and health-related practices by parents and educators. The study highlights the school’s commitment to health and identifies encouragement, modeling, and teaching as key practices supporting HSA implementation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

School health promotion and healthy lifestyles

Problem Statement

School-family and school-community collaboration

Collaboration within the Context of the Healthy School Approach (HSA): The Case of a Disadvantaged Elementary School in Quebec Marie-Claude Rivard Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Rollande Deslandes Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Charlotte Beaudoin Université d'Ottawa Author’s Note The authors of this article gratefully acknowledge the educational community of this school for their help with this study, which was made possible by a research grant from the Fonds de recherche sur la société et la culture, New Researcher component (FQRSC, 2007-2010, no. 120671). The research grant was given to the first author named. Abstract This case study focuses on the groundwork aiming at developing school-family-community collaboration in the deployment of the HSA in a low socio-economic status elementary school. Two theoretical models-the HSA and Hoover-Dempsey et al. (1997, 2010) models-guided the analysis of five discussion groups (N=31) regarding their perceptions ofthe place of health in school and of parents’and educators’health related practices to support HSA deployment and to establish the pathway to a better school-family-community collaboration. The school is committed to health despite its low economic status. Encouragement, modeling and teaching are the perceived practices or actions. Keywords: healthy school, perceptions, practices, collaboration, stakeholders. CANADIAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 34, 4 (2011): 158-176 ©2011 Canadian Society for the Study of Education/ Société canadienne pour l’étude de l’éducation Résumé Cette étude de cas unique s’intéresse à la mise en place de la collaboration école-famillecommunauté dans le déploiement de l’AÉS au sein d’une école primaire défavorisée. Les modèles théoriques de l’AÉS et de Hoover-Dempsey et ses collègues (1997, 2010) ont guidé l’analyse de cinq groupes de discussion (N=31), concernant leur perception de la place de lasanté à l’école et les pratiques des parents et des éducateurs reliées à la santé susceptibles de supporter le déploiement de ladite approche et de créer une meilleure collaboration. L’école estengagée vers la santé en dépit de son statut défavorisé . L’encouragement, le modeling et l’enseignement sont les pratiques les plus fréquemment utilisées. Mots clés : école en santé, perceptions, pratiques, collaboration, acteurs. Collaboration within the Context of the Healthy School Approach (HSA): The Case of a Disadvantaged Elementary School in Quebec Introduction In 2004, l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) reaffirmed the important role of school health promotion and healthy lifestyles: Schools influence the lives of most children. They should protect the health of children by informing them, by teaching them the basics of health and by promoting a healthy diet and exercise, along with other healthy behaviors. (p. 18) Since reforms in the 1990’s, all provincial teaching programs in Canada include health as one of their components (Rivard & Beaudoin, 2005; Turcotte, Desbiens, Trudel, Demers, & Roy, 2011) . Ministerial briefings and the works of numerous researchers have also reaffirmed that the responsibility for health belongs not only to schools, but to families and communities as well. Many school and extracurricular initiatives have been developed to promote health in young people, and the ways of doing it are quite diverse. Both national organizations (e.g., Canadian of School Health, Joint Consortium for School Health) and provincial organizations (e.g., Action Schools BC, Manitoba Healthy Schools) followed this momentum, with the result that nearly a dozen associations have by now designed various school initiatives in their own provinces (Beaudoin, 2011) . In Quebec, the school is also called upon in matters of health, and the Healthy School Approach (HSA) (Ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport, 2005) is part of this impetus. The present study focuses accordingly on the place of health and he

FAQs

What is the main focus of the case study?

The study focuses on developing school-family-community collaboration to support the deployment of the Healthy School Approach (HSA) in a disadvantaged elementary school.

Which theoretical models guide the analysis?

The analysis is guided by the Healthy School Approach (HSA) model and the Hoover-Dempsey et al. (1997, 2010) models.

What practices are stakeholders most likely to use to support HSA deployment?

Encouragement, modeling, and teaching are identified as the perceived practices or actions used to support HSA deployment.

Oct 15, 2026

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