Critical health education and the possibilities of role-play: part 3

Abstract

In our previous two chapters we have demonstrated that role-play can provide an excellent vehicle for exploring health education within a critical framework. Role play may be used to approach an issue from a number of vantage points, i.e. that of the individual, the group or society. until now health educators have given predominant attention to the individual-only approach, the 'traditional' approach. We are suggesting a more educationally viable approach which we label Critical Health Education. This is a simplistic distinction but it does serve a useful purpose by polarising the two major ideological standpoints within health education: To illustrate clearly the differences between the two models, analyse the way a common health education topic, 'Dental Health Care' might be treated in these contrasting approaches.