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Media Release – Blueprint

Media Release – Blueprint

20 November 2007

 

Drug Education Forum comments on Blueprint drug education report

 

Eric Carlin, Chair of the Drug Education Forum, commenting on the publication of the first findings from the Home Office Blueprint drug education research project said:

The Drug Education Forum welcomes these findings; there is a lot here to feel positive about.  In particular we think it is significant that teachers were more confident in delivering the drug education after training.

 

We urge the government to build this into teachers? initial training and to reinforce it with continuing professional development.  It?s time that drug education became a subject that teachers feel comfortable tackling.

 

The report does make it clear that there is still a lot to learn, particularly around providing parents with what they need to support their children.  Parents do want to ensure their children grow up healthy and we need to find ways of helping them do this and to spread the best practice that is out there.

 

We urge the government to ensure that community based approaches to drug education are complementary to those happening in schools, especially considering those who may not be in schools due to absence or exclusion.

The research has found that:

 

  • Secondary school teachers still have limited expertise in the methodology of teaching PSHE
  • High quality and intensive training is vital to increasing the competence and confidence of teachers (implications for both initial teacher training and Continued Professional Development)
  • Recruiting parents to drug prevention activities may be a much longer term process than expected. Longer planning times would also allow for increased engagement with local agencies

ENDS

 

Notes for Editors:

 

  • Blueprint was a Home Office funded drug education programme involving 29 secondary schools in 4 LEA areas; 23 are adopting the programme while 6 continue with their existing drug education programme to act as a comparison sample.  The Blueprint reports are available at http://drugs.homeoffice.gov.uk/publication-search/blueprint/dpreports/ 
  • The Drug Education Forum was represented on the Blueprint external stakeholders group by Eric Carlin, Stephen Burgess and Andrew Brown.