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News

Drugs Education

The findings are available on the Drug Education Forum's website, which is a new resource for teachers, school advisers, parents, governors and all those concerned about delivering effective drugs education for young people.

The Drug Education Forum's interviews suggest that often the messages in the guidance need to be communicated more widely throughout the school. Pupils and governors are often unaware of their school's drug policy - although Ofsted report that the vast majority of schools do have drug policies in place.

Towards the end of last year teachers, governors and pupils from state schools in London were interviewed. Interviewers were told that, where the government guidance was remembered at all it was for the publicity surrounding its launch and specifically for the reference to headteachers being able to introduce drug testing in schools if they felt it was necessary.

In summary, from the Drug Education Forum's survey:

• School governors are often unaware about the drugs policies in place in their schools
• Teachers complain of inappropriate and out of date teaching materials
• Pupils criticise the over-emphasis on illegal drugs, rather than information on alcohol and tobacco that they encounter on a daily basis
• School drugs policies tend to remain the domain of senior staff with little input from teachers, governors, parents or pupils.

However, on a more positive note, researchers found that:

• The provision and content of drug education in schools was viewed positively by most teachers, governors and pupils.
• Contrary to much media and political pressure, all schools surveyed feel able to manage drug incidents in schools without resorting to drug testing.

Eric Carlin, Chair of the Drug Education Forum comments:

"The Drug Education Forum contributed to and welcomed Drugs: Guidance for Schools. We continue to hope that it will make a real difference to how young people learn about the risks related to misuse of drug and alcohol and how to avoid these, as well as how teachers, governors, parents and young people themselves can get help if they need it. As well as supporting the DfES's continuing efforts to communicate this useful guidance, we would encourage all schools to implement drug policies with full involvement of teachers, governors, parents and pupils. We also urge media representatives, policy makers and politicians to refer to the guidance before making comment on how we can best support schools in dealing with drug-related issues."

Notes to Editors:

The focus groups were carried out in 2 London boroughs by Outcome Consultancy on behalf of the Drug Education Forum between September and November 2004.  We spoke to governors from 15 schools, to 17 teachers and other staff, from 2 schools, and to 25 pupils from the same schools.  The report can be downloaded from the Drug Education Forum website at www.drugeducationforum.org.uk.

The Drug Education Forum brings together a range of national organisations from health, education, police and voluntary sectors that deliver or support the delivery of drug education. The Forum promotes the provision of effective drug education for all children and young people. Its new website offers news and events from Forum members, resources for teachers and others and is looking to build a library of practice and can be found at

www.drugeducationforum.org.uk.

DEF welcomes the DfES guidance, and its emphasis on inclusion and its encouragement to schools to develop considered, sensitive responses to the issues raised by drugs and drug use.

The DfES's Drugs: Guidance for Schools can be downloaded from http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/pshe/publishContent.cfm?sectionId=118&pageStart=1&sub

SectionId=270&subSubSectionId=278&contentId=259 .

Contact details for further information:
Eric Carlin (Chair of the Drug Education Forum) ec@mentoruk.org
07949 777919

Dr Jenny McWhirter (DEF Advisory Group Member) jennym@drugscope.org.uk
07811 371229

Andrew Brown (Coordinator, Drug Education Forum) def@mentoruk.org
07739 907 465

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