Via They Work for You:
Helen Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps he is taking to ensure that teachers are trained to inform young people about the dangers of alcohol abuse.
Jim Knight:
Alcohol education should be delivered (along with other drug education) through well planned personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE). We are committed to helping teachers and schools improve their planning and delivery of this important area and there is a Government-funded continuing professional development programme for PSHE, which all teachers of drug (including alcohol) education are encouraged to undertake. The programme, accredited by Roehampton university, is also open to community nurses and supports standards in the delivery of PSHE teaching. Over 6,000 teachers and nurses have been certificated or are participating in the programme.
The “should” in Mr Knight’s answer is the critical word.
As he (and we) know PSHE isn’t a statutory subject and that makes it vulnerable when schools are looking to free up time. I understand – and I’m trying to get hold of the paper for myself – that there’s research suggesting the amount of time given over to PSHE has been going down. Certainly I’ve heard that a number of schools have abandoned PSHE altogether.
And even where they haven’t at secondary level there’s now the additional theme of economic wellbeing and financial capability which has been added to the subject.
Equally it’s not that surprising the Minister doesn’t mention the fact that the CPD programme has sixty per cent of its content aimed at sex and relationships education – because it’s paid for by the teenage pregnancy unit. Or that according to Doreen Massey it’ll take 50 years to train all those delivering PSHE if we keep going at the current speed.
The other telling point in the Minister’s answer is that it make no mention of Initial Teacher Training where not much seems to take place in relation to PSHE or, more postively, the PSHE Subject Association which is trying to raise the status, quality and impact of PSHE.
Filed under: PSHE, alcohol , alcohol education, teacher training
The rhetoric spouted by our Home Secretary does nothing to address the problems alcohol causes. Nor does it seek to address the prolific advertising of alcohol, including the mass,and unrelenting influence of subliminal advertising that we need alcohol. Almost every soap, play and movie on TV gives a prominent display to the idea that we need a drink for every situation, celebration, bereavment, joy, disaster,
crises or incident, out comes the booze.
Nor is the Government interested in research from America which clearly shows billboards, advertising alcohol in the vicinity of schools, influences young people that its ok to drink alcohol. Indeed the glamorous people shown on these billboards, the luxurious atmosphere in which they are portrayed indicates just how ‘cool’ and sophisticated it is to drink alcohol. This theme is so successful from the alcoholic drinks industry point of view that it is extended to commercials on television.
There is no acknowledgement from our politicians of the persuasions of both forms of advertising, and no intention of curtailing it.
Nor for that matter are realistic health warnings likely to appear either on the products or in prominent lines on the advertising copy, because the Government has abidicated that responsibility by delegating it to the Alcoholic drinks industry.
The facts about alcohol are simple and straightforward:
It is an hypnotic sedative.
The first organ in the body to be influenced by alcohol, even as little as 1 pint of beer is that part of the brain responsible for our judgement and decision making.
Alcohol in common with other psycho active drugs induces a false sense of euphoria.
Alcohol is highly addictive, twice as many people become addicted to alcohol as compared with all other drugs combined.
In sufficuent quantities alcohol irreversibly damages the brain.
Alcohol is toxic, in sufficient quantities it kills.
When we start to see health warnings which reflect the truth of the foregoing, I’ll be inclined to believe that the Government is serious about tackling the problems caused by alcohol, instead of promoting it’s use as they do now.
Peter, who knows perhaps the government will take up the opportunity offered by the Alcohol Labelling Bill to introduce health warnings…