The Press & Journal have an article about the new Scottish drug strategy, which I bring you because it’s always worth knowing what perspective the other nations in the United Kingdom put on the issues that we’re interested in. As you’ll no doubt have already seen from coverage elsewhere there’s a big focus on delivering recovery for those going through treatment.
But Mr Ewing said the strategy was not just about helping those with drug problems but prevention, with help for parents, drug education in schools, help for prisoners, tackling drug supply and economic growth with stronger families and communities.
The strategy can be found here, and the blurb says:
The Government believes that preventing drug use is more effective than treating established drug problems and that treatment services in Scotland should be based on the principle of recovery.
The chapter of the strategy that deals with preventing drug use has this to say about substance misuse education:
Substance misuse education in schools is often the first line of prevention against drug use, providing opportunities to pass on accurate, up-to-date facts, explore attitudes and, crucially, foster the skills needed to make positive decisions. It is not just about classroom teaching, but encompasses all policies, practices, programmes, initiatives and events in the school connected with the prevention and reduction of drug-related harm. The evidence is clear that no one approach to prevention and education is effective, and that one-off interventions will have limited value. Furthermore, we know that the culture, relationships and opportunities in schools contribute to young people’s social and academic outcomes, and that these are relevant to a whole range of behaviours including drug use.
Teachers will always be in the front-line for delivery in schools, and their ownership is fundamental to the effectiveness of the education received by young people. However, as for any other area of the curriculum, teachers are not expected to deliver substance misuse education alone. Research evidence indicates that messages can be most effective if delivered in partnership with a range of agencies. Integrating inputs from different sources is likely to be best, ensuring quality teaching as well as accurate, credible information and messages.
In practice, delivery by classroom teachers is often supplemented by police, youth work, nurses and a wide range of other NHS health professionals as well as ADATs. In short: there is a wide range of potential fields from which visitors might be drawn. These inputs can add significant value to the educational experiences received by young people, but we need to ensure that their contributions to education are maximised. To ensure effective teaching and learning, regard must be had to the skills and capacities of all involved, with appropriate training and support to equip them to deliver effective substance misuse education.
Peer education might also play an important role in supporting young people. For example, in the Borders, senior school pupils provide alcohol and drugs awareness programmes for senior primary pupils through the ‘ UP2U’ programme.
While there is good practice in substance misuse education in schools there is room for improvement. The Government has recently established a steering group to advise it on developing more effective substance misuse education in Scottish schools. Membership includes experts from education, drug agencies, NHS Health Scotland, the police and officials from across the Scottish Government. The group is due to publish an interim report early in 2009 and will produce advice, guidance and proposals aimed at helping schools and authorities to achieve the improvements sought through Curriculum for Excellence and the 2007 Act so that:
- appropriate teaching materials are available and are being used most effectively;
- comprehensive, evidence-based approaches to substance misuse education are integrated into wider health education and promotion in the school;
- education is planned in partnership with inputs from Health, the police and the community;
- delivery is by appropriately trained practitioners, for effective pedagogy (e.g., with interaction to develop skills);
- there is student-centred, culturally appropriate and relevant education, targeted to needs and context;
- training, networking, delivery and evaluation by practitioners is co-ordinated; and
- there is appropriate engagement with parents.
The draft Health and Well-being outcomes developed within Curriculum for Excellence will be trialled in schools from May until the end of December and will provide a further opportunity for new approaches and best practice to be developed for substance misuse education. The steering group will take account of the trialling in developing its proposals for improvement activities.
There are considerable opportunities for drugs education to be applied in other curriculum areas. Curriculum for Excellence will provide new opportunities for schools to plan challenging interdisciplinary studies, where the different experiences and outcomes in the whole curriculum can be grouped together to reinforce and emphasise messages about substance misuse as part of a whole-school strategy. This will ensure that they have sustained impact. For example, using the expressive arts as a medium for learning can present issues such as decision making skills and peer pressure in a more accessible way through role play. There are clear connections in the biology element of the science curriculum where the impact of drugs (both legal and illegal) on the functions of the body can be analysed. There are also links between the social studies and aspects relating to citizenship. The steering group will consider proposals for work to identify and disseminate best practice in this area to support Curriculum for Excellence.
Filed under: Scotland, drug education, drug strategy , The Road to Recovery: A New Approach to Tackling Scotla
