Researchers from Monash University and University of Adelaide, in partnership with ABC Education, have developed a suite of educational materials that accompany ABC’s Magda’s Big National Health Check.
In November of 2022, ABC aired a series Magda’s National Health Check, where the iconic Australian actor Magda Szubanski embarks on a journey to uncover the state of our nation’s health.
Magda meets with friends along the way to discuss a range of health issues that Australians face today. They delve into the broader societal factors that shape those issues, and our overall health.
The series takes us down a path less travelled as we learn about how both our physical and social environments impact our health. Magda looks at the ways our health is often presented. For example, we often focus on “bad” choices, but these approaches can lead to blame, shame, and a lack of motivation to change. The focus on individual choice is also too narrow.
The series reveals that our environments can make choosing health challenging. Our health is deeply connected to our environments, everyday relationships, where we live, our families, communities, how much money we have, broader corporations, government policies, and global politics. Once we discover these influences, we can support each other to make local changes and develop more supportive, sustainable and healthy environments.
The ABC series aligns well with the contemporary curriculum, though it requires educators to think broadly and make connections across learning areas. While Health and Physical Education is the obvious subject area for health education, we can connect these issues with Geography, Civics and Citizenship, Science, Design and Technologies, Media and Arts, English, and Mathematics to help teachers and students understand the issues and take action.
Health ABC Education has curated eight bite size clips from the series for educators to use in the classroom, and Monash Education has accompanied these clips with links to learning areas of the Australian Curriculum F-10, along with a range of engaging classroom activities and resources.
Critical inquiry and health literacy are key ideas that underpin the Australian Health and Physical Education curriculum and this resource kit draws upon contemporary educational thinking, including using digital technologies, inquiry-based learning, and high impact teaching strategies.
While these resources are designed to support teachers in delivering the activities, they are also a key source of professional development when it comes to contemporary health education.
The topics covered in these educational materials are:
One of the main messages for educators in this series is the importance of engaging with the community to hear from them what the main problems are, and then work together to arrive at possible solutions.
Teachers will need to engage with students as well as the broader school community to learn about the factors that impact our health. A focus on student voices will allow educators to activate their classrooms so that students not only learn about health, but they can also take action on community health issues.
For example, you could imagine that your students are community health researchers and invite them to develop research questions, collect data and explore solutions to different school and community health topics.
It is also important to make connections with local government and other key decision makers to give your students the opportunity to share their ideas for a healthier community with those who can help make positive changes. This will allow students to understand how many people are needed to solve ‘wicked problems’, and that engaging with community stakeholders will help to bring about healthy changes in their communities.
Magda’s Big National Health Check helps us reimagine health education while contributing to the creation of a healthier future for all.
ABC Education (2022), Magda’s Big National Health Check (resources for teachers)
ABC iView (2022), Magda’s Big National Health Check (original series)
Department of Education and Training (2017), High Impact Teaching Strategies (pdf)
Department of Education and Training (2019), Amplify Empowering students through voice, agency and leadership (pdf)
World Health Organisation (n.d.), Social Determinants of Health
World Health Organisation (2021), Commercial Determinants of Health
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