What do health‐promoting schools promote?

Purpose The editorial aims to provide a brief overview of the individual contributions to the special issue, and a commentary positioning the contributions within research relating to the health‐promoting schools initiative in Europe. Design/methodology/approach The members of the Schools for Health in Europe Research Group were invited to submit their work addressing processes and outcomes in school health promotion to this special issue of Health Education . Additionally, an open call for papers was published on the Health Education web site. Following the traditional double blind peer review process, nine submissions were accepted for publication. Five of these are selected to be published in this issue and the rest will be published in a future issue of the journal. Findings The five articles in this issue take a comprehensive approach to health promotion in schools and reflect on the related processes and outcomes. Although diverse in focus and research methodology, the five contributions all emphasise that the question about the outcomes of the health‐promoting schools cannot, and should not be limited to narrowly defined health outcomes achieved through single health‐promotion interventions. Directly or indirectly the articles reiterate the idea that health promotion in schools needs to be linked with the core task of the school – education, and to the values inherent to education, such as inclusion, democracy, participation and influence, critical literacy and action competence in relation to health. Originality/value This special issue endorses the idea that health promotion in schools would do well to reconnect with the traditions of educational theory and to develop innovative forms of educational practices and interventions in the face of complex societal challenges concerning health and health promotion. It can be beneficial for stakeholders who work towards school based health promotion, assisting them in bridging the gap between health and education sector.