Toolkit for teachers

Issues for teachers and opportunities within the teaching role

The issues and suggestions raised in this section have been identified through discussions with teachers at both primary and secondary levels.

General awareness of the issue
Like the main population, teachers have varying views and levels of knowledge about alcohol and alcohol related problems. They are unlikely to be well informed about the effects on children of parental alcohol misuse and resilience factors.

Coverage in schools
The impact of parental drinking is rarely, if ever, covered within schools and there is no national context or framework to simply slot it into.

Situations arising in schools
Alcohol-related issues are most likely to come to a teacher’s attention either as a concern about school children drinking or in dealing with a parent whose behaviour is difficult due to their alcohol (and/or drug) misuse. Awareness of, or concern about, a child who may be affected by parental drinking problems is not an issue which is commonly considered by teachers even though 1 in 4 adults drink at levels likely to be harmful and 1 in 20 will be alcohol dependent.

Concern about an individual child
However teachers often become concerned about children in their care for other reasons. Concern about individual children is most likely to arise due to changes in a child’s appearance, performance and/or behaviour. Sometimes the causes are specific and are quickly identified by the teacher - illness or disability of a parent, or a family crisis such as divorce. However the changes are most often seen as multi-causal - child having a difficult home environment generally (poor housing, parents in financial difficulties, unsupported single parent families, parental disharmony etc) and there is no specific concern about parental drinking. Unless there is a particular reason for thinking about parental alcohol misuse (the parents might be known to have drinking problems or informal enquiries might reveal this) there seems no purpose in ‘going down this road’ for two reasons:

It is not going to be clear what is causing what - alcohol misuse causing family tension, parental distraction and financial problems etc or just being a symptom of these things. There is little awareness that parental alcohol misuse will have a greater adverse effect on families in difficult circumstances compared to better off or better situated families.

Concerns about the implications of child protection procedures. This is covered in more detail in Addressing Child Protection but a particular concern among teachers is that making enquiries of the child can, if later a case of child abuse becomes a police matter, be seen as probing, which may in turn lead to a child disclosing something that did not happen. This opens up a line of defence for a potential perpetrator and police may not be prepared to pursue a case if they feel that the robustness of the evidence from the child is open to this challenge. As there is a correlation between alcohol misuse and domestic violence this is a valid concern but one which should be covered by normal child protection policy and procedures. This issue is not alcohol specific and applies to situations where teachers are raising concerns with any child whom they suspect may have been neglected or abused.

Child initiating disclosure
It is possible that a child under pressure will suddenly choose to talk to an adult within the school. This might be the form teacher or a favourite teacher although teachers also report that some children especially avoid those with whom they are familiar or particularly like, preferring the feeling of anonymity offered by a more distant figure (the Head of Year, or the School Counsellor or Nurse etc). Teachers have requested specific guidance as to when what is said is something that can just be listened to and acknowledged and when it is something on which some sort of action needs to be taken; there are two key points to bear in mind:

Firstly that the school’s existing guidance to their teachers on policy and procedures concerned with child protection (presuming these are up to normal standards) are adequate for application to concerns about the effects of parental drinking on a child. The teacher’s professional judgment should be used as to when to invoke such procedures, in exactly the same way as if a child discloses other sorts of information
However, research shows that, on the whole, professionals tend to be more likely to invoke child protection procedures when parental alcohol misuse is known, compared to other parental problems mentioned by the children; this may be inappropriate and could be harmful to the child.

The issues and difficulties faced by a range of professionals in relation to child protection and alcohol misuse have been a prominent feature in the discussions surrounding the development of toolkits for different professional groups. An expert view on this matter is available and teachers are advised to look carefully at this in the section on Addressing Child Protection.

Children as carers
Children who take on caring responsibilities for siblings (and sometimes parents) may come to the attention of teachers for the same reasons as those given above. The situation of a child acting as a carer is a relatively common occurrence within schools. In some areas (particularly those in deprived parts of the country) the situation is so well recognised that the school itself provides specific support for groups of children in this situation. In these areas the issues of parental alcohol (and drug misuse) is likely to be a known cause of children taking on responsibilities for the family (because substance misuse is high in the immediate population) but in more affluent areas this is unlikely to be picked out as a specific cause, although school staff will be familiar with working with children in this general situation.