Alcohol and Drug Education and Prevention Information Service

Helping schools and practitioners support children and young people

ADEPIS: Who we are funded by the Department for Education run by Mentor, in partnership with DrugScope and

Adfam

supporting secondary schools, primary schools, FE Colleges and anyone working in formal or informal settings with children and young people.

Drug and alcohol education in schools

Research to inform our work with schools Carried out by the PSHE Association in June

2013 Teachers from 288 schools across England

responded to an online questionnaire Follow-up telephone interviews with 20 of

these.

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 in finance for resources and training, and delivery by non-specialist services.

Quality standards for drug education

For schools and external drug educators working in schools

Aims of the standards

To help schools assess their own practice, in and outside the classroom, and make the case for additional support and resources.

To help external providers of drug education raise their own standards and convey their aims, practice and approach to schools.

To help schools have clearer expectations of external contributors, choose those that which deliver to a high standard and best meet their needs, and work more effectively with them.

What evidence are they based on? ‘Prevention science’: for example programmes such

as ‘Life Skills Training’ and ‘Unplugged’ have been tested in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and found to result in measurable reductions in alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use.

Their elements and overall approach (based on ‘social influences’) have a lot in common with what experts in PSHE education would describe as best practice.

Key resources we drew on: Drug Education Forum: Principles of good drug education and

principles for supporting school drug education EMCDDA (2011) European Drug Prevention Quality

Standards DfES (2004) Drugs: Guidance for Schools. PSHE Association guidance including online CPD SCODA (1999) The Right Approach: Quality standards in drug

education Ofsted subject-specific guidance on PSHE Guidance on safeguarding, e.g. www.safenetwork.org.uk Guidelines for on staff and volunteer management

A clear model of good drug education emerges...

needs-led and age-appropriate, putting the pupil at the centre;

a two-way, interactive process of learning; enabling pupils to explore their own and other people’s

attitudes and values; challenging misperceptions about the prevalence and

acceptability of drug use among peers; and developing pupils’ personal and social skills to manage

risk, solve problems and communicate effectively.

Unfortunately...

... it is not yet universally delivered

“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...”

Mentor Youth London, 2012

Ofsted’s verdict:Not yet good enough: PSHE education in schools

There is a close correlation between being a good school overall and good PSHE education.

Significant weaknesses were identified, in particular in staff training and support, and assessment, monitoring and evaluation.

Where external contributors were used, in over half of the schools there was no formal evaluation of the impact on pupils’ learning or follow-up of activities.

These findings are supported by our mapping research.

Why do we think yet another set of documents will help?

We want to create something which is rigorous in terms of quality, but easy to use in self-assessment.

We want to create a shared understanding across schools and external providers of drug education, to promote better joint working and raise standards.

We are opening the standards up to wide consultation to make them as user-friendly as possible.

Overlapping sets of standards

Delivering effective drug

education

Staff policies and

safeguarding

School context for effective

drug education

Schools External providers

Format

Introduction and guidance on using standards

Standards – comprising an introduction; the standards; a glossary; resources for further reading

Examples of how standards might be evidenced

Self assessment form:

Standard Not met/ Partially met / Fully met

Current position Actions to take

Evidencing the standards

“Yes, we have this policy in place”

“We review

We asked x, they told us we do this well

We identified a problem; took this action; the result was...

We identified a problem; and are in the process of doing this to address it...

We use x external provider, training...

Regular reviews

School context for effective drug education (1)

Clear leadership support for drug education and prevention. A written drug policy sets out the school’s approach to

incident management, drug education and support. Drug education is carefully planned and ongoing assessment,

monitoring and evaluation ensures that it meets pupils’ needs.

Teachers involved in delivering drug education are skilled and confident, with access to high quality training and support.

School context for effective drug education (2)

All staff are confident about dealing with drug and alcohol-related issues.

There are clear and effective processes for supporting pupils with additional needs relating to drugs and alcohol and referring them to external services where appropriate.

Parents and carers are aware of the school’s approach to drugs and alcohol and have opportunities to be actively involved.

Delivering effective drug education

Clear and relevant learning objectives and learning outcomes are set and assessed.

Learning is interactive.

Positive social norms are reinforced.

Resources are appropriate for their audience, providing accurate and relevant information.

Clear strategies are in place to ensure a safe classroom environment.

Approaches are evaluated for effectiveness

Staff policies and safeguarding (1)

HR policies are clearly set out and in line with relevant legislation.

Volunteers receive a clear volunteer agreement or role description

Rules regarding the involvement of staff or volunteers with previous or current problems, including drug or alcohol misuse, are clearly set out.

The staff competencies required for successful programme delivery are clearly set out and used as a basis for recruitment and staff development.

Safe recruitment processes for staff and volunteers

Staff policies and safeguarding (2)

New staff and volunteers are well supported and monitored. There is effective support and supervision for all staff and

volunteers. The organisation has a clear policy on safeguarding As part of the agreement to work with any school there is a

clear understanding of the school’s policies on safeguarding, confidentiality and disclosure and other relevant information.

It is clear to schools how they can feed back comments or concerns.

Questions for discussion: Are the standards set at an

appropriate level: rigorous enough to enable high quality drug education provision, but still achievable?

Will they be usable in practice? Are the example answers useful? What could be done to make them more user-friendly?