Venka Simovska
Biographic Data
| ID | 4250317 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Venka Simovska |
| GIVEN NAMES | Venka |
| FAMILY NAME | Simovska |
| SIGNATURE | SIMOVSKA V |
| AFFILIATIONS | Aarhus University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1391-9182 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 15 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
School principals’ Covid-19 health literacy and its association with mental health: International findings from 11 countries in Europe and Asia
School principals are prone to mental health problems due to work demands. During the COVID-19 pandemic, school principals were additionally tasked with managing challenging responsibilities, i.e. implementing hygiene regulations, communicating frequent policy updates, and transitioning to online teaching. This international study aimed to assess school principals’ COVID-19 health literacy (HL) levels as a resource during the pandemic and to exam…
School wellbeing unveiled: Insights from a systematic literature review
Purpose This article reports on a systematic review of school-based wellbeing research, synthesizing 159 peer-reviewed studies using a narrative configurative approach. The review addresses two core questions: how is wellbeing framed conceptually in interventions aimed at promoting student wellbeing, and what are the perspectives of teachers and students on wellbeing? Design/methodology/approach The protocol involved comprehensive searches across…
The importance of school leaders in school health promotion. A European call for systematic integration of health in professional development
School leaders such as principals are key not only for educational and school quality but also for initiating and sustainably anchoring any innovation in schools. Although there is widespread agreement about the importance of holistic approaches to school health promotion, the role of principals has received increased, but not yet systematic, attention. In this context, it is unclear which leadership competencies are needed and to what extent the…
Relationships between Covid-related health literacy, mental health and workload of school leaders
Objective: Studies have shown that school leaders’ health literacy is key to supporting health development in school. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of school leaders’ health literacy became evident, as school leadership was characterised with uncertainty and demanded high levels of alertness to the need to implement rapidly changing health-related measures at short notice. This study sought to explore school leaders’ health literac…
Exploring Educational (Un)readiness Through the Concepts of Dispositive, Assemblage and Actor-network
Untangling the threads of school wellbeing: Underlying assumptions and axes of normativity
At present, the concept of wellbeing in schools appears more muddled than ever, encompassing an even wider range of meanings, connotations and dimensions than when it first gained currency two decades ago. Drawing upon a systematic literature review on wellbeing in schools, this article conceptualises the normative tensions underpinning the understandings of wellbeing in schools and related critical discussions. Guided by the claim that education…
What Do the Experts Say? Children's Perspectives on Wellbeing in Schools
In this paper, we explore children's perspectives on wellbeing at school through a multimodal, qualitative research design. Forty-seven students from Years 2, 4 and 6 in a public school in Denmark shared their insights regarding their own wellbeing in school through written accounts and videos, as well as other articulations such as drawings, paintings and Lego models. The analysis makes use of an "extended" conceptualization of wellbeing at scho…
Quality of life movement: Historical overview of the policies and challenges for the future of education
Since the early 1990s, there has been a paradigm shift in human development theory due to a slow but steady increase in the attention paid to the concepts of quality of life, wellbeing and happiness. Accordingly, some scientists have questioned the validity of Gross Domestic Product as a tool to explain the wealth and development of nations, and several institutions and scholars have started to provide new policies and indexes to measure both sub…
Same storm, different boats! The impact of Covid-19 on the wellbeing of school communities
Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the functioning of education systems in a multitude of ways. In Ireland schools closed on March 12th and remained closed for the remainder of the academic year. During this time educators engaged with students, families and colleagues in new and diverse ways. The purpose of this study was to explore educators' experiences during the closures, particularly regarding the impact of the pandemic on the wellb…
Making of Wellbeing Measurement: A (Kind of) Study Protocol
In this paper, we propose a ‘study protocol’ for researching the becomings of the Danish national wellbeing survey for schools. We engage with the idea of a published research protocol that originates from positivist research paradigms and medical research in particular. Within these paradigms, protocol serves the purpose of ensuring the objectivity and replicability of the research in question, and provides a sense of security to the researcher …
From Deviance to Diversity: Discourses and Problematisations in Fifty Years of Sexuality Education in Denmark
This article analyses the sexuality education curriculum in primary and lower secondary schools in Denmark. Taking inspiration from the ‘what is the problem represented to be?’ approach to policy analysis, we explore how discourses of risk, health, quality of life, sexual diversity and critical pedagogy simultaneously permeate curriculum policy and contribute to the production of particular subjectivities among pupils and teachers. Over time, cha…
Inside out: What We (Don't) Talk About When We Talk About Research
In this article, we discuss issues that are rarely (if ever) talked about in research: experiences of deep insight and inspiration, of meaning-making, of embodied passion and of excitement related to the practice of engaging in qualitative research and of being a qualitative researcher. These are the 'aha' moments or 'eureka' experiences. Drawing on Frigga Haug's collective memory work, five individual memories were articulated as text and analys…
(Re)framing school as a setting for promoting health and well-being: A double translation process
The aim of this paper is to discuss the ways in which the setting approach to health promotion in schools, as part of knowledge-based international policies and guidelines, is embedded in the Danish policy landscape and enacted at the local governance level. The study draws on the sociology of translation and treats policy implementation as a non-linear process of (re)interpretation involving different actors in plural, mutually interwoven, non-h…
Health promotion in Danish schools: Local priorities, policies and practices
This article discusses the findings from a study mapping out the priorities, policies and practices of local authorities concerning health promotion (HP) and health education (HE) in primary and lower secondary schools in Denmark. The aim of the study was to identify the gaps, tensions and possibilities associated with the demand to increase the quality and effectiveness of HP in schools. The recent national school reform, which emphasizes the im…
The significance of ‘participation’ as an educational ideal in education for sustainable development and health education in schools
This article examines the significance of the concept of participation for teacher meaning-making processes in education for sustainable development and health education. In Scandinavian public schools, education for sustainable development and health education focus on a wide palette of societal problems rather than on narrow curricula. Drawing on selected reviews of research literature on education for sustainable development and health educati…
Health literacy as a learning outcome in schools
Purpose The aim of this paper is to define health literacy as a learning outcome in schools, and to describe the learning conditions that are relevant for targeting health literacy. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on theoretical and empirical educational literature, and also the experiences of the authors. Findings Health literacy is defined as consisting of five core components: theoretical knowledge, practical knowledge, critical th…
Participation and Learning
Inside out: What We (Don't) Talk About When We Talk About Research
In this article, we discuss issues that are rarely (if ever) talked about in research: experiences of deep insight and inspiration, of meaning-making, of embodied passion and of excitement related to the practice of engaging in qualitative research and of being a qualitative researcher. These are the 'aha' moments or 'eureka' experiences. Drawing on Frigga Haug's collective memory work, five individual memories were articulated as text and analys…
From Deviance to Diversity: Discourses and Problematisations in Fifty Years of Sexuality Education in Denmark
This article analyses the sexuality education curriculum in primary and lower secondary schools in Denmark. Taking inspiration from the ‘what is the problem represented to be?’ approach to policy analysis, we explore how discourses of risk, health, quality of life, sexual diversity and critical pedagogy simultaneously permeate curriculum policy and contribute to the production of particular subjectivities among pupils and teachers. Over time, cha…
The significance of ‘participation’ as an educational ideal in education for sustainable development and health education in schools
This article examines the significance of the concept of participation for teacher meaning-making processes in education for sustainable development and health education. In Scandinavian public schools, education for sustainable development and health education focus on a wide palette of societal problems rather than on narrow curricula. Drawing on selected reviews of research literature on education for sustainable development and health educati…
Untangling the threads of school wellbeing: Underlying assumptions and axes of normativity
At present, the concept of wellbeing in schools appears more muddled than ever, encompassing an even wider range of meanings, connotations and dimensions than when it first gained currency two decades ago. Drawing upon a systematic literature review on wellbeing in schools, this article conceptualises the normative tensions underpinning the understandings of wellbeing in schools and related critical discussions. Guided by the claim that education…
Participation and Learning
Health literacy as a learning outcome in schools
Purpose The aim of this paper is to define health literacy as a learning outcome in schools, and to describe the learning conditions that are relevant for targeting health literacy. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on theoretical and empirical educational literature, and also the experiences of the authors. Findings Health literacy is defined as consisting of five core components: theoretical knowledge, practical knowledge, critical th…
The significance of ‘participation’ as an educational ideal in education for sustainable development and health education in schools
This article examines the significance of the concept of participation for teacher meaning-making processes in education for sustainable development and health education. In Scandinavian public schools, education for sustainable development and health education focus on a wide palette of societal problems rather than on narrow curricula. Drawing on selected reviews of research literature on education for sustainable development and health educati…
Health promotion in Danish schools: Local priorities, policies and practices
This article discusses the findings from a study mapping out the priorities, policies and practices of local authorities concerning health promotion (HP) and health education (HE) in primary and lower secondary schools in Denmark. The aim of the study was to identify the gaps, tensions and possibilities associated with the demand to increase the quality and effectiveness of HP in schools. The recent national school reform, which emphasizes the im…
(Re)framing school as a setting for promoting health and well-being: A double translation process
The aim of this paper is to discuss the ways in which the setting approach to health promotion in schools, as part of knowledge-based international policies and guidelines, is embedded in the Danish policy landscape and enacted at the local governance level. The study draws on the sociology of translation and treats policy implementation as a non-linear process of (re)interpretation involving different actors in plural, mutually interwoven, non-h…
Inside out: What We (Don't) Talk About When We Talk About Research
In this article, we discuss issues that are rarely (if ever) talked about in research: experiences of deep insight and inspiration, of meaning-making, of embodied passion and of excitement related to the practice of engaging in qualitative research and of being a qualitative researcher. These are the 'aha' moments or 'eureka' experiences. Drawing on Frigga Haug's collective memory work, five individual memories were articulated as text and analys…
Making of Wellbeing Measurement: A (Kind of) Study Protocol
In this paper, we propose a ‘study protocol’ for researching the becomings of the Danish national wellbeing survey for schools. We engage with the idea of a published research protocol that originates from positivist research paradigms and medical research in particular. Within these paradigms, protocol serves the purpose of ensuring the objectivity and replicability of the research in question, and provides a sense of security to the researcher …
From Deviance to Diversity: Discourses and Problematisations in Fifty Years of Sexuality Education in Denmark
This article analyses the sexuality education curriculum in primary and lower secondary schools in Denmark. Taking inspiration from the ‘what is the problem represented to be?’ approach to policy analysis, we explore how discourses of risk, health, quality of life, sexual diversity and critical pedagogy simultaneously permeate curriculum policy and contribute to the production of particular subjectivities among pupils and teachers. Over time, cha…
Same storm, different boats! The impact of Covid-19 on the wellbeing of school communities
Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the functioning of education systems in a multitude of ways. In Ireland schools closed on March 12th and remained closed for the remainder of the academic year. During this time educators engaged with students, families and colleagues in new and diverse ways. The purpose of this study was to explore educators' experiences during the closures, particularly regarding the impact of the pandemic on the wellb…
What Do the Experts Say? Children's Perspectives on Wellbeing in Schools
In this paper, we explore children's perspectives on wellbeing at school through a multimodal, qualitative research design. Forty-seven students from Years 2, 4 and 6 in a public school in Denmark shared their insights regarding their own wellbeing in school through written accounts and videos, as well as other articulations such as drawings, paintings and Lego models. The analysis makes use of an "extended" conceptualization of wellbeing at scho…
Quality of life movement: Historical overview of the policies and challenges for the future of education
Since the early 1990s, there has been a paradigm shift in human development theory due to a slow but steady increase in the attention paid to the concepts of quality of life, wellbeing and happiness. Accordingly, some scientists have questioned the validity of Gross Domestic Product as a tool to explain the wealth and development of nations, and several institutions and scholars have started to provide new policies and indexes to measure both sub…
The importance of school leaders in school health promotion. A European call for systematic integration of health in professional development
School leaders such as principals are key not only for educational and school quality but also for initiating and sustainably anchoring any innovation in schools. Although there is widespread agreement about the importance of holistic approaches to school health promotion, the role of principals has received increased, but not yet systematic, attention. In this context, it is unclear which leadership competencies are needed and to what extent the…
Relationships between Covid-related health literacy, mental health and workload of school leaders
Objective: Studies have shown that school leaders’ health literacy is key to supporting health development in school. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of school leaders’ health literacy became evident, as school leadership was characterised with uncertainty and demanded high levels of alertness to the need to implement rapidly changing health-related measures at short notice. This study sought to explore school leaders’ health literac…
Exploring Educational (Un)readiness Through the Concepts of Dispositive, Assemblage and Actor-network
Untangling the threads of school wellbeing: Underlying assumptions and axes of normativity
At present, the concept of wellbeing in schools appears more muddled than ever, encompassing an even wider range of meanings, connotations and dimensions than when it first gained currency two decades ago. Drawing upon a systematic literature review on wellbeing in schools, this article conceptualises the normative tensions underpinning the understandings of wellbeing in schools and related critical discussions. Guided by the claim that education…
School principals’ Covid-19 health literacy and its association with mental health: International findings from 11 countries in Europe and Asia
School principals are prone to mental health problems due to work demands. During the COVID-19 pandemic, school principals were additionally tasked with managing challenging responsibilities, i.e. implementing hygiene regulations, communicating frequent policy updates, and transitioning to online teaching. This international study aimed to assess school principals’ COVID-19 health literacy (HL) levels as a resource during the pandemic and to exam…
School wellbeing unveiled: Insights from a systematic literature review
Purpose This article reports on a systematic review of school-based wellbeing research, synthesizing 159 peer-reviewed studies using a narrative configurative approach. The review addresses two core questions: how is wellbeing framed conceptually in interventions aimed at promoting student wellbeing, and what are the perspectives of teachers and students on wellbeing? Design/methodology/approach The protocol involved comprehensive searches across…
Sociology (13 works) · Psychology (12 works) · Political science (8 works) · Pedagogy (6 works) · School Health and Nursing Education (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (5 works) · Health promotion (4 works) · Mathematics education (4 works) · Medicine (4 works)