Toolkit for teachers

The policy context and the school curriculum

Where does the issue of parental drinking fit in the curriculum?
Issues around parental drinking, and even about alcohol more generally, are not addressed directly within the curriculum – even though we see elsewhere that there are about one million children under 16 living with a least one parent who misuses alcohol to a significant extent and that this can have can have a dramatic effect on children, making their lives stressed and difficult.

Alcohol is, however, mentioned within the context of drug education with the guidance that ‘….all drugs and alcohol education should aim to give young people the knowledge, understanding, skills and attitude to make informed choices and encourage students to recognise the importance of pursuing a healthy lifestyle and keeping themselves and others safe’.

The National Curriculum is split between Statutory and Non-Statutory guidance for schools.

Statutory requirements

Within the Statutory Guidance (www.nc.uk.net) there is an expectation that all schools will teach about drugs and alcohol within the science curriculum. Pupils should be taught:

Key Stage 1 Sc2-2d ‘about the role of drugs as medicines’
Key Stage 2 Sc2-2g ‘about the effect on the human body of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, and how these relate to their personal health’
Key Stage 3 Sc2-2m ‘that the abuse of alcohol, solvents, and other drugs affects health’
Key Stage 4 Sc2-2m ‘the effects of solvent, alcohol, tobacco and other drugs on body functions’

Non statutory guidelines

Within the non-statutory guidelines, particularly in Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE), there is guidance about knowledge, skills and understanding. Pupils should be taught:

Key Stage 1 PSHE 3f ‘that all household products, including medicines, can be harmful if not used properly’
Key Stage 2 PSHE 3d ‘which commonly available substances and drugs are legal and illegal’
Key Stage 3 PSHE 2d ‘basic facts and laws, including school rules, about alcohol and tobacco, illegal substances and the risk of misusing prescribed drugs’
Key Stage 4 PSHE 2e ‘about the health risks of alcohol, tobacco and other drug use, early sexual activity and pregnancy, different food choices and sunbathing, and about safer choices they can make’

Citizenship

The teaching of Citizenship is statutory in Key Stages 3 and 4 and, although there is no direct reference to this issue within the guidance, citizenship may well be the most appropriate place to locate this topic – as part of looking at the effects of alcohol on society, local communities, families and individuals.

There are many schools that will choose to teach the statutory minimum content to their students and so many students will not have the opportunity to develop their understanding, explore their feelings or discuss their attitudes towards this subject. Others will wish to go further.

The most recent Drugs Guidance for Schools (DfES 2004) covers best practice and how a school should approach its drugs policy. This guidance advocates:

Starting with an understanding of students’ existing knowledge
Creating a safe, secure and supportive learning environment
Planning a curriculum to improve knowledge, understanding and explore feelings and attitudes
Delivery by specialist teachers (in secondary schools)
Involving parents and carers
Wise use of external contributors

There is evidence that a harm-reduction approach can increase knowledge, influence attitudes and have some impact on how young people drink (McBride 2000). A harm-reduction approach accepts that people drink and it seeks to enhance students’ ability to identify and deal with risky situations. Accepting alcohol as a normal part of the lives of many people will contribute to ‘normalising’ families who from time to time may experience problems.

The Healthy Schools Initiative

The Healthy Schools Initiative is another vehicle through which schools have to ensure that alcohol education is addressed. This initiative sets standards for participating schools to achieve to be awarded recognition. Once a school has demonstrated a commitment to becoming a healthy school by (participating in a nationally accredited local programme) it must work towards the identified standards. This initiative is also providing training and certification for teachers of PSHE and is now developing a unit for drugs education†. There are three levels of involvement in the Healthy Schools Initiative, but it isn’t until a school has reached level three that it fully meets the criteria.

The main criterion relating to alcohol is:

The school is delivering the requirements of the national curriculum, particularly in relation to sex and relationship education and drug education, including alcohol and tobacco, in line with statutory requirements, non-statutory guidance and NHSS criteria

However the following criteria are also relevant:

The whole school community (pupils, staff, parents, governors and community partners) is invited to take part in policy development, physical, social and cultural activity and support each others learning
The school provides a culture and environment to support the taught PSHE and citizenship curriculum

†Hidden Harm (June 2003) is a set of proposals to minimise the impact of drugs and alcohol on the lives of young people when parents misuse. Recommendation 27 requires schools to have a trained, designated person able to deal with the problems that might arise for a child of a problematic user.