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Protecting young people from drugs and alcohol

Getting better drug education into schools

...fewer young people are drinking,smoking or taking other drugs than 10 or 20 years ago.

Did you know...

But the health and social impacts of legal and illegal drugs leave no room for complacency.

Is drug education in schools up to the challenge?

“I am 16 years of age; colouring pictures of smiley face Ecstasy tablets will not make me less inclined to take it.”

“The year 11s are getting the same boring drugs PowerPoint as the year 7s...”

Simply giving the facts about alcohol, tobacco and other drugs...

has little impact on young people’s decisions

Dire health warnings

also seem to be ineffective

So what does work?

• Approaches based on ‘life skills’ or ‘social influences’ are the most effective at changing young people’s behaviour.

• Programmes such as ‘Life Skills Training’ and ‘Unplugged’ have been tested in other countries and found to reduce alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use.

• Their approach has a lot in common with ‘good’ PSHE teaching.

‘Life skills’ include...• Assertiveness and negotiation• Managing difficult social situations• Making and keeping positive friendships

These relate to the different reasons why young people may take drugs

• Experimenting out of curiosity or boredom

• To look tough

• To deal with anxiety or stress

• Enjoyment or relaxation

• To fit in with a group

• To rebel

• Thrill-seeking

• “Everybody’s doing it”

“Everybody’s doing it”

Or are they?

One element of life skills approaches is to challenge young people’s ideas about what is normal and accepted.For example, young smokers think smoking is much more common than it actually is.

Research suggests that how drug education is taught is as important as what is taught.

Lecturing students is much less effective than interactive drug education.

Interactive learning is key: “You can’t learn life skills from a book”

• Successful drug prevention programmes demand time for reflection, review and building on knowledge

• In contrast, schools often teach drug education in one-off drop-down days.

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Should teachers hand over to ‘experts’ on drugs?

Police as drug educators• Content and teaching skills (what and how) are

more important than who is teaching.• There is no evidence that police-led programmes

are particularly effective in drug prevention.

• The most effective police contribution is probably to teach about drugs and the law within a school-led programme.

Are ex-addicts the answer?• Those who have overcome addiction may want

to help by sharing their own experiences.

• As speakers, they often capture young people’s imagination.

• But there is little evidence that their talks help young people avoid harmful drug use.

• One piece of research found that young people’s willingness to try drugs increased after the session.

Teachers can do a good job...

...but they need to be given the right tools and support

Too often drugs education is left to teachers who are trained not in PSHE but in French or Geography.

Another approach to drug prevention• Young people disengaged from school are at greater

risk of harmful drug use• One programme, the ‘Good Behaviour Game’ helps

even disruptive young children to settle down and work quietly.

• Later in life these children were less likely drop out of education or develop drug problems.

To protect young people from drugs and alcohol, Mentor campaigns to improve drug education and to bring evidence-based programmes into UK schools