Involving Children and Young People in Drug Education
Commenting on the launch of the Drug Education Forum?s new report Involving Children and Young People in Drug Education, Eric Carlin, the Acting Chair of the Forum, said:
Last year saw a jump of 8% in the number of schools that involved their pupils in developing drug education policy, up from 38% to 46% who had consulted with the children and young people.
We want to encourage even more schools and non-formal education settings to work with the children and young people in their care to improve the policy and practice around drug education.
The Drug Education Forum believes that education needs to build on the existing knowledge of pupils. Our report outlines cases where children and young people have had a considerable impact on their own learning about drugs.
A recent survey of young people for the government found that:
Year 11 pupils who remembered having lessons about drugs in the last year were less likely to have taken drugs (excluding volatile substances) in the last month than those who did not recall having lessons about drugs (17% compared with 25%).
Drug use, smoking and drinking among young people in England in 2005, Information Centre (2006)