Health promotion in pre-service teacher training in Switzerland

School is an extraordinary setting through which to practice health promotion. Obviously the preparation of future teachers to this task is of great importance. In Switzerland there are some models of good practice and many enthusiastic fighters for health in the field of preservice teacher training. Yet the results of a study at the swiss teacher training institutes show that about 30% of these institutions do not include health-issues in their curriculum. Furthermore, in those institutes including health-issues, the structural position of the person(s) encharged with this task is often weak and marginalized. The practical impact of the study is only partially satisfying: while the addressed authorities (Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education, Cantonal school authorities) have translated and published the results of the study and give them some weight by formulating their own recommendations, the constitution of a network of the persons encharged with health-issues in the teacher training institutions has failed.