The guidance on alcohol interventions in school are to be released in the next week. According to the media reaction that’ll mean alcohol education for 5 year olds. The Telegraph says:
Children as young as five are to get lessons on the dangers of alcohol in an attempt to tackle Britain’s growing binge-drinking epidemic.
From primary school onwards, youngsters nationwide will be taught about the harmful effects of alcohol, the influence of advertising and safe drinking levels.
The Daily Mail working the same theme:
New government guidelines on alcohol education will recommend giving children as young as five lessons on the dangers of drinking, according to reports.
The final draft of guidance on reducing underage drinking through school-based programmes will not be published by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) until next week.
The Metro also runs the story using the (dismissive) quote The Telegraph were given by the Alcohol Health Alliance:
Dr Nick Sheron, a liver physician and secretary of the Alcohol Health Alliance, told the Telegraph: “Teach children about alcohol so they can be informed but don’t expect that if you tell children not to drink that they are going to take a blind bit of notice.”
I can’t be sure but it seems likely to me that these stories misunderstand the guidance that will be published on Thursday.
My experience of the few pieces of public health guidance that NICE have produced is that the recommendations don’t get as specific as saying “provide alcohol education to 5 year olds”. Rather they say things like:
Ensure alcohol education is tailored for different age groups and their learning needs.
Nor will the guidance be as reliant on alcohol education as Dr Sheron may have been led to believe. How do I know? Well you may remember that NICE did publish draft guidelines back in the summer and there were three recommendations:
Recommendation 1:
- Ensure alcohol education is an integral part of both the national science and personal, social and health education (PSHE) curricula, in line with DfES guidance.
- Ensure alcohol education is tailored for different age groups and their learning needs. It should aim both to reduce the harmful effects of alcohol use and develop the individual’s life skills. Education programmes should:
- increase the individual’s knowledge of the harmful effects of alcohol and what constitutes sensible drinking
- help them to develop decision-making, assertiveness, coping and verbal/non-verbal skills
- help them develop their self-esteem
- increase their awareness of how advertisements can entice people to drink
- increase their awareness of the cultural unacceptability of alcohol misuse.
- Where possible, offer parents sessions to help them develop their parenting skills. Topics covered should include limit-setting and communication skills. In addition, parents should be offered advice on how to teach their children to resist peer pressure.
- Introduce ‘whole school’ policies and regulations on alcohol use, in line with DfES guidance.
Recommendation 2:
- Identify children and young people who are misusing alcohol and, where appropriate:
- offer one to one brief advice about harm reduction strategies and sources of support
- offer a follow-up consultation
- follow best practice guidelines on consent and confidentiality and, as appropriate, involve parents/carers in the consultation and/or referral to external services.
Recommendation 3:
- Develop partnerships between schools, local authorities, PCTs and children’s services to:
- provide alcohol education in schools, as part of PSHE
- ensure school interventions are integrated with those tackling drugs and alcohol misuse in the wider community as part of local substance misuse strategies
- find ways to consult with and involve families.
We’ll see just how much these have changed when the final recommendations are published.
Filed under: NICE, alcohol, drug education , Alcohol Interventions in Schools, NICE
