A 6 Step Approach to use with Children?

Between 1989 and 1996 I worked as a programme officer for The Child-to-Child Trust – working with amazing people such as Hugh Hawes and Prof David Morley. Alongside these greats and with academics and practitioners in several countries, we developed?The 6 step Approach.?This is an approach to organising a health education programme and suggests a programme of orderly activities to teach children about health - linking what they learn with where they live.

All the work I do at Children for Health is built upon those amazing years and the inspiration I gathered working alongside such incredible people.?

Yesterday and in a discussion with the wonderful adolescent behaviour expert Sarah Newton, I was reminded of the two times when, as well as teaching the adults about the six-step approach, I taught the CHILDREN the approach - they were also participating in our workshop. These children lived or worked on the street in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia and the workshop was with street educators linked to a Radda Barnen (Save the Children Sweden) programme there.?

What happened next is that during evening immediately following the session on the 6-steps, the children went off and used it to solve the problem of feeling cold at night – to get some extra blankets, better shelter, and warm drinks.?

This wasn’t the application of the 6-step approach that we anticipated or expected but I thought it was so interesting. I then asked the children to create a drama about their experience of using the 6-step approach which they did (very quickly) and then performed for the??rest of the adult group. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house after that performance. These children were between the ages of 6 and 14 and most of them were not literate.?

Here are the 6 steps in their bare bones…

Step 1: Choose an idea/topic/problem of concern and understand it well.

Step 2: Find out more (from friends, family, neighbours etc).

Step 3: Discuss what we have found out and planning action.

Step 4: Take action.

Step 5: Discuss the results of the action.

Step 6: Improve upon it and (where relevant) think of ways of keep it going.?

The other feature of this process being a too and fro between a place where children might gather to learn and discuss things to the place where they live. So 1, 3 and 5 taking place in the ‘learning place' and 2, 4 and 6 taking place where they live.?

I continued training teachers, programme managers and others in the 6-step approach in very many countries – Vietnam, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, the Yemen etc etc and as time went on, I began to feel that however good the 6-step approach might be in its design,??it was not an easily workable approach in schools because of scheduling restrictions and other limitations of the school day. Also if you closely listened to teachers – they just found it too complicated.?

On this basis I have endeavoured to create simpler approaches and ideas to help strengthen what I regard as essential elements of effective health education programmes and this is the main work of ‘Children for Health'.

So it only stuck me YESTERDAY that the 6-step approach could be best used as a structure for children to navigate and solve problems and to develop critical thinking skills.

I’d love to hear what you think about these ideas.

Do you think they will strengthen participatory approaches in your work with children?