Author Identifier (ORCID)
Valeria Varea: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3572-4976
Abstract
School health educational content often entails different subject areas and a variety of topics that students are supposed to learn, and when taught in diverse classrooms, potentially positions students as at-risk. Using vignettes in interviews with migrant students in Sweden, the study focuses on views of the content of health education in relation to different ways that health as risk is enacted. Four aspects of risk were identified: (i) risk as content in health education and risky, including topics such as nutrition, stress, smoking, and pollution; (ii) risk as content in health education but not so risky, including topics such as health care and disease prevention; (iii) not-so-risky topics in health education, including topics such as physical activity, physical health, and social relations; and (iv) not risk as content in health education but still risky, including topics related to sex education. Teachers in health education, regardless of school subject, should be aware that some topics position students as being at-risk, other topics put students at-risk even if the topics are not about risk per se, and lastly, that risk can be something with pedagogical potential if it is used purposefully and educationally.
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
1-1-2025
Publication Title
European Educational Research Journal
Publisher
Sage
School
School of Education
RAS ID
84434
Funders
Swedish Research Council (2020-03309)
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Quennerstedt, M., Caldeborg, A., Barker, D., & Varea, V. (2025). Risky topics in health education: Enacted content when students with migration backgrounds meet Swedish health education. European Educational Research Journal. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/14749041251388801