Trends in coverage of hygiene and disease prevention topics across national curriculum frameworks for primary science, physical education, and health

The response to the Covid-19 pandemic raises a question about the role of national curriculum frameworks in acquiring and applying knowledge about hygiene and prevention of disease. For curriculum designers, this means determining what children of different ages should learn about these topics and how they should develop and apply this knowledge. Curriculum designers must do so amid trends towards reducing curriculum content and transitioning to competency-based curricula with transversal elements. Arguments can be made for placing health literacy competences, knowledge, and skills across the intended curriculum for science, physical education, and health. These are different disciplines with different models of knowledge, learning, and progression. This exploratory study looks at the placement of public health-related content in a selection of recently reformed, competency-based national curriculum frameworks from Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Australasia. From these examples, it highlights risks and opportunities for incorporating public health messages into the intended curriculum.