About 70 colleges and universities offer programs to train health education teachers, and the profession is growing. Members of the profession feel strongly that health education should not be considered a part of physical education and that physical education should not be a branch of health education. Some high schools now give a half year to physical education and a half year to health instruction.
Forster's Education Act 1870, which heralded compulsory state education, made provision for school boards to ensure attendance but they were not compelled to do so, though later Acts strengthened this aspect. More recent Education Acts, however, have reinstated the right of parents to opt to educate their children 'at home', though this has often been made difficult and met with social and administrative disapprobation. This was enshrined in the Education Act 1944 where the term 'education otherwise' was coined, and again in Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 which states:
About 70 colleges and universities offer programs to train health education teachers, and the profession is growing. Members of the profession feel strongly that health education should not be considered a part of physical education and that physical education should not be a branch of health education. Some high schools now give a half year to physical education and a half year to health instruction.