Health promotion education in changing and challenging times: reflections from the UK

Health education has changed in numerous ways since the inception of this journal, with many developments moving the discipline forward in ways that perhaps were not envisaged 75 years ago. Whilst there have been reported concerns about the decline of the discipline of health promotion and therefore associated worries about education, the contemporary evidence base has grown (Woodall et al 2017 in press), which we argue supports the delivery of quality education and the development of capable, skilled practitioners. Pedagogy has further developed too, and technology now enables health education to have a broader global reach through online teaching, social media and open-access publications. Many global challenges remain, and the UK context is one in which both health education and indeed practice faces major trials despite the traditions and approaches to health education developed by those educated and trained in this setting over a period of many years. We argue that the broader UK policy environment remains a challenge to current health promotion education, research and practice.