Drug and alcohol education in schools

2013 Teacher Mapping Exercise

Key Messages

Drug and alcohol education provision remains inconsistent.

Primary schools have less access to support and resources, but secondary schools also identify unmet needs.

Assessment and evaluation, continuity in learning and quality assurance of resources and external support remain weaker areas.

While there are examples of excellent drug and alcohol education teaching, many teachers highlighted a lack of curriculum time, constraints on finance for resources and training, and delivery by non-specialist services.

About the research

Teachers from 288 schools across England responded to our questionnaire during June 2013. Follow-up telephone interviews were carried out with 20 of these.

156 respondents were from secondary schools and 70 from primary schools, the remainder in other settings, e.g. middle schools, FE colleges, PRUs

The majority were reached directly through the PSHE Association’s mailing lists.

School drugs education and policy

Most respondents (95%) said that their school provided some drug and alcohol education

86% said that their institution had a whole school drugs policy (8% said ‘No’ and 7% ‘Don’t know’)

“The school drug policy isn’t in the staff handbook…but it is on the online system if people want to look at it. In teaching they would only refer to it if there was a safeguarding issue.”

Time available for drug and alcohol education

A lack of curriculum time was noted by interviewees as an important constraint. The hours allocated depended on the importance placed on drug and alcohol education.

“The most important aspect which could be improved would be curriculum time... it’s about having enough time to build effective teaching and experience.”

Pupils generally receive 1-2 hours of drug and alcohol education a year or less

Key stage one

Key stage two

(lower)

Key stage two

(upper)

Key stage three

Key stage four

Key stage five

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

None

< 1 hour per year

1-2 hours per year

> 2 hours per year

Teachers’ views on what makes an effective teaching resource:

85% Engages pupils’ interest82% Makes pupils think about their attitudes and values

59% Links with other health ed & wider issues in pupils’ lives

55% Sparks discussion52% Meets the needs of a range of pupils51% Gives opportunities to build and practise life skills46% Creates continuity and builds on previous learning37% Can be delivered by non-specialist teachers33% Identifies clear learning outcomes31% Has been evaluated and shown to be effective23% Contains hard-hitting messages

Secondary schools’ access to resources

Secondary schools felt there were some gaps in their drug and alcohol education resources:

Feel that the school is well equipped to

teach all areas needed

Mostly, but there are a few gaps

Sometimes, but several resources

are less than ideal/need updating

Little access to effective resources

Perceived gaps (secondary)

In interviews and comments, a common complaint was that resources were not up-to-date, or not relevant for their pupils.

This was reflected in two-thirds of secondary teachers wanting resources on ‘legal highs’

Generally, secondary teachers were keen for resources which placed drug and alcohol use in the context of other issues in their pupils’ lives...

Most popular topics for resources (secondary)

65% ‘Legal highs’

56% Links between d & a use and sex and relationships

55% Links between d & a use and mental illness

52% Coping with stressful situations without using d or a

47% How many peers use (countering myth that ‘everyone does it’)

44% Links between d & a use and personal safety

43% Practising assertiveness skills

40% Thinking critically about the media and alcohol

Primary schools’ access to resources

A fifth of primary schools (19%) said they had little access to effective resources.

Just 16% felt they were well equipped to teach all areas

Yes, feel that the school is well equipped to

teach all areas needed

Mostly, but there are a few gapsSometimes, but several

resources are less than ideal/need updating

Little access to effective resources

Perceived gaps (primary)

From the most popular requests for new resources, primary schools seem to perceive a lack of basic, substance-specific teaching resources.

“Lots of resources are for secondary schools. (We) need specialist resources for Key Stage 2 which inform without scaring.”

Most popular topics for resources (primary)

50% Alcohol44% Illegal drugs (general)43% Tobacco43% Practising assertiveness skills41% Safe use of medicines

34% Thinking about values, attitudes and working towards long-term goals

30% Thinking critically about the media and alcohol

27% How many peers use (countering myth that ‘everyone does it’)

27% The law around drugs, alcohol and tobacco

What informs schools’ teaching?

Anecdotal evidence is drawn on more than structured needs assessment.

Over half of schools don’t take into account assessment of pupils’ learning.

Primary schools draw on a much narrower base of information: one in ten primary schools said their teaching was informed by ‘none of the above’

Drug and alcohol education is informed by...

None of the above

Other (please specify)

Surveys of pupil behaviour

Class needs analysis

Pupil involvement in evaluating

Assessment of pupils’ learning

Incidents among pupils

Local data

National events or trends

Informal school knowledge on pupils

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

SecondaryPrimary

Non-specialist teachers

Mixed confidence amongst teachers in delivering PSHE and drug and alcohol education remains an issue within schools

“The real barrier that effective (drug and alcohol) teaching faces within the school is that it is not delivered through a PSHE team which leads to a huge variety in delivery.”

“We have some staff who are excellent practitioners, but others are very wary of having to teach PSHE and 'awkward' lesson materials.”

Financial constraints

some interview participants indicated that their schools lacked the financial capacity necessary to secure good external resources of support

“It is hard to find funding to bring in outside speakers and it is sometimes also hard to afford good resources.”

School support

For all types of support , secondaries were more likely to access them than primaries.

Advice on school drug policy

General advice on drug and alcohol education

Classroom resources

Factual information about drugs and alcohol

Staff Training

0% 50% 100%

SecondaryPrimary

School support

FRANK, the police and the PSHE Association were all used more by secondary schools than primary

Other

Charity/ Company/ Independent consultant

Police

PSHE Association *

FRANK website

Local authority advisor

0% 50% 100%

SecondaryPrimary

* Because the majority of respondents were contacted through the PSHE Association more schools would be expected to cite this as a source of support.

What schools wanted more support on

Classroom resources (81%) were most popular. Next most popular were best practice guidance

(57%), policy updates (53%) and good practice case studies (50%)

Secondary schools were more likely to want:

Updates on research about effective drug and alcohol prevention (50% vs 34%)

Resources to help assess pupils’ needs (44% vs 33%)

Advice on assessing pupils’ learning and evaluating drug education provision (49% vs 30%)

Targeted resources for working with pupils seen as ‘at risk’ (41% vs 20%)

Opportunities to network with other practitioners and experts in the field (31% vs 20%)

Parents

Overall, 40% said they would like advice on working with parents.

Some interviewees from primary noted that parents were often uneasy with drug and alcohol education being taught.

Two respondents from secondary settings reported that external support for engaging parents with PSHE had now been withdrawn because of cuts, leaving the teachers themselves feeling less confident about working with parents.

For more information

The full report detailing the findings from the survey can be downloaded from http://mentor-adepis.org

Contact us:adepis@mentoruk.org@mentor-adepis020 7553 9920