Health Campaign Strategies

Overview

In this lesson (Lesson 11 of 12), students explore and evaluate real health promotion campaigns, then apply what they learn to design a clear, evidence-informed health promotion plan. The work links naturally to media literacy (how messages are targeted and framed).

Learning intentions

• WALT evaluate different health promotion strategies and their likely impact on individuals and communities.
• WALT identify what makes a health campaign effective, including message, audience, and delivery method.
• WALT investigate health disparities and use findings to justify health priorities.
• WALT create a health promotion plan that could be used in a real-world setting.

Success criteria

• I can compare at least two health promotion strategies and explain when/why they may work.
• I can identify features of effective campaigns (audience fit, clarity, accessibility, evidence, and behaviour change approach).
• I can use research to link a health disparity to a specific campaign goal and target group.
• I can produce a health promotion plan with a clear rationale, method, and measurable outcomes.

Curriculum links

• Promoting physical and mental wellbeing: understanding influences on health and using strategies to improve it.
• Relationships and health education: evaluating health messages and taking informed actions.
• Media literacy: recognising how information is presented and how it can influence attitudes and behaviours.
• Citizenship-style responsible action: considering how communities can promote wellbeing and reduce health inequalities.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–5 min | Recall & settle

• Students answer a quick prompt: “What is one health promotion strategy we discussed previously, and who does it usually target?”
• Teacher circulates to identify common misconceptions (e.g., confusing education with immediate behaviour change).

2. 5–15 min | Campaign warm-up discussion (interactive)

• In pairs, students choose a current UK health campaign they have seen (e.g., smoking/vaping, mental wellbeing, sexual health, healthy eating).
• Pairs summarise: who the message targets, what the message asks people to do, and what barriers it seems to anticipate.

3. 15–30 min | Group research: health disparities

• Students form small groups (3–4). Each group is assigned one disparity-related theme relevant to Year 12/13 (e.g., diet and obesity risk, mental health access, smoking/vaping prevalence, screening uptake, alcohol-related harm).
• Groups complete a short research card: key disparity, affected group(s), contributing factors (social, economic, cultural, geographic), and a plausible health behaviour linked to the disparity.
• Teacher reminds them to link to “effective campaigns” rather than listing statistics only.

4. 30–45 min | Strategy evaluation “campaign lab”

• Groups evaluate two sample strategies (teacher-prepared prompts):
• Strategy A: information/awareness approach
• Strategy B: skills/support or targeted community action approach
• Students decide which is more effective for their assigned disparity and justify using criteria: audience relevance, clarity, accessibility, motivation/barrier handling, and realism of outcomes.
• Brief whole-class debrief: teacher calls on groups to contrast “short-term awareness” vs “behaviour and access over time.”

5. 45–55 min | Transformation task: build a health promotion plan

• Students create a one-page plan:
• Aim (measurable goal)
• Target audience (specific group and why)
• Key message and channels (e.g., social media, school/college events, GP/community spaces)
• Barriers and supports (what may stop people, what removes those barriers)
• Success measures (how you’d know it worked)
• Teacher uses a checklist aligned to success criteria and encourages peer feedback.

6. 55–60 min | Campaign showcase (exit feedback)

• Two-minute “gallery walk”: students leave their plan on desks; they leave one sticky-note style comment (strength + one improvement).
• Quick exit ticket: “One feature of effective health promotion I will include next time is…”

Resources

• Teacher-prepared prompts of two example health promotion strategies per theme
• Research cards or pre-selected articles/briefs (no hyperlinks) on health disparities
• One-page planning template (aim, audience, message, channels, barriers/supports, measures)
• Sticky notes or short comment sheets for the showcase
• Timer and group roles (facilitator, researcher, writer, presenter)
• Accessibility options: printed large-font extracts, reading supports, and sentence starters

Assessment

• Formative assessment through group evaluation discussions and teacher questioning during research.
• Summative assessment via the one-page health promotion plan meeting success criteria (clarity, justification, measurable outcomes).
• Peer assessment using “strength + improvement” feedback during the showcase.

Differentiation

• Support: provide sentence starters (e.g., “This campaign is likely effective because…”, “A barrier for this group may be…”, “Our success measure could be…”).
• Support: offer a simplified research summary pack and a partially completed planning template for learners who need structure.
• Challenge: require advanced learners to include an explicit rationale for channel choice and anticipate unintended effects or ethical considerations in targeting.
• EAL/SEN: allow options for recording ideas (spoken rehearsal, mind maps, or chunked drafting) and provide vocabulary supports in plain UK English (e.g., “target audience”, “barrier”, “outcome measure”).
• Dyslexia-friendly reading options: provide audio recordings of research briefs (teacher read-aloud or pre-recorded), and offer text in dyslexia-friendly fonts with shorter paragraphs and clear headings.

Extension (optional)

• Advanced students add a “media analysis” add-on: identify persuasive techniques used in a chosen campaign (tone, imagery, framing, calls to action) and propose an alternative message format to improve accessibility for the target group.