The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

2.0 DRUG EDUCATION PACKAGES AND RESOURCES

One of the factors integral to virtually all the lessons observed was how the lessons were resourced and what packages were in place to support the lesson content and framework. Some of these packages were published, others were no more than folders of photocopied worksheets. Section 2.1 provides an overview of the packages used, while section 2.2 examines how the packages were used. Section 2.3 discusses other resources which were observed in use.

2.1 Packages in Use

Just over a third of the lessons (36 in all) were almost exclusively package-based. (See Table C2.1 below.) A further half (50) of the lessons were based on a mixture of resources taken from a number of sources, some of which included published packages and grouped into broad banks of resources. Fourteen lessons used no resources per se, though these were often structured around activities such as discussions.

A range of published packages was observed across the five local authority groupings.

Table C2.1. Packages Used

The packages observed in use are described below.

2.1.1 Primary school packages

The following packages were observed being used in primary schools:

• The Police Box
• Strathclyde Police S.T.E.P.S Programme
• Glasgow's Health
• BBC Resource pack 'Focus - Substance Misuse'.

The Police Box - Early Days and Drug Sense

The pack is split into Early Days and Drug Sense, and was produced by Grampian Police in association with local education departments and is accompanied by a CD-Rom and video. It is intended to be a teacher-led resource supported by a uniformed police officer where possible. The pack also encourages links with other professionals such as school nurses, local pharmacists and customs and excise officers. It is designed to be a flexible resource and as such can be used in a number of ways, with teachers able to adapt activities to the needs of their classes. The teaching materials are linked to the 5-14 National Guidelines for the Curriculum.

The aims of the pack are:

• to promote opportunities for the individual, group or class to learn a blend of facts and skills, whilst auditing attitudes and feelings, within a cross curricular multi-disciplined framework.

It combines information and affective approaches addressing self-esteem, self-awareness, feelings and attitudes, and decision making. This is presented with a social influences approach focussing on resistance skills. It aims to work from an interactive teaching approach, actively involving children in the learning process and encouraging them to learn from their peers.

Issues addressed in the pack include risk, consequences, influence, bias and decision-making, while activities are generally based on worksheets. There are four Early Days sessions which are targeted at Ps1-4 and place an emphasis on medicines, household substances and safety procedures relating to them. There are 18 Drug Sense sessions designed for Ps 5-7 and S1-2. These look at definitions, categories, feelings, scenarios, addiction, self-esteem building and resistance skills. Here, the emphasis is on affective approaches .

The S.T.E.P.S Programme (Safety Training and Education for Primary Schools) is another police based programme, delivered by Strathclyde Police.

Glasgow's Health: Primary Drug, Alcohol and Tobacco Education Pack

This is used throughout local authority schools in Glasgow and was produced by NHS Glasgow, Strathclyde Police and Glasgow City Council. It is accompanied by an interactive web/ CD-Rom resource. The pack consists of 41 sessions, with the number of sessions per year increasing from P1 to P7.

The pack aims to allow pupils to develop their knowledge and understanding about drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, their effects and the implications of misuse. It is also concerned with values clarification and the development of skills to enable children to make healthy choices and decisions, including those which allow them to resist peer pressure. It is linked into other components of PSHE and also provides opportunities for appropriate outside agencies (e.g. the police) to assist teaching staff in delivering certain aspects of drug education.

Glasgow's Health uses an interactive teaching approach, engaging pupils in discussion and allowing them to voice opinions, hopes and fears. The activities vary from whole class discussions to paired work, individual worksheets, small group work and role-play activities. It also encourages the use of visiting experts, such as the police, pharmacist and school nurses. There is an emphasis on emotions throughout the pack and on developing strategies on how best to cope with emotions. In addition, information and affective approaches are also incorporated, as are life skills and social influences approaches which focus on resistance skills and strategies for dealing with risk.

This package makes links with other similar resources. Nearly all lessons are supplemented with extension/homework activities from The Police Box and World of Drugs.

BBC Resource Pack - Focus: Substance Misuse

This is a set of three programmes aimed at children aged 9-11 which is intended to promote debate and encourage children to develop their own decision making skills. The programmes cover a variety of themes linked to the PSHE/ PSD 5-14 National Guidelines for the Curriculum, Levels D - F. They are titled 'Nobody tells me what to do', 'It makes me feel good', and 'Keep your mouth shut.' A teachers' activity book and resource cards accompanies the series. The focus is upon citizenship and developing confidence, responsibility and decision-making skills.

2.1.2 Packages used in both primary and secondary schools

Some of the packages have both primary and secondary editions. The following were observed being used in both primary and secondary lessons:

• What's the Score?
• Drugwise Too

What's the Score?

What's the Score? was produced by a consortium including the Rowantree Group and North Lanarkshire Education Department, and designed for both Primary and Secondary school use. A video accompanies the packs.

It focuses on the concept of developing decision-making skills. The materials are outcome linked and based on principles underpinning the curriculum framework. The package as a whole has been informed by current research. Pupils are provided with drugs information while at the same time given the opportunity to debate and discuss issues likely to affect current and future life situations. There are also opportunities to include relevant agencies in supporting the delivery of drug education. A shared approach with school staff, students, parents and the wider community is recommended.

The objectives of the package include the development of student awareness, attitudes and skills to enable them to make informed, responsible decisions about the use of drugs, alcohol, tobacco or solvents as part of a healthy lifestyle. The package states that it is based on a social learning approach. This involves presenting a balance of activities addressing knowledge, attitudes, values and skills development. The pack also recommends that harm reduction strategies be used where appropriate.

The primary package includes 36 lessons for P1-P7 with a range of interactive classroom activities on medicines, household substances, choices, risks and drugs. The number of lessons given to each year group increases as children move up through the school.

The secondary edition of What's the Score? is designed for S1 to S4, and structured around delivery through a spiral curriculum. There are 26 lessons evenly spread throughout the four years. They build on the foundations of What's the Score? primary edition, focussing on the provision of knowledge, with an emphasis on consequences, influences and making informed decisions. Drug knowledge is extended, exploring topics such as facts and myths, the influence of the media and peers. Activities include group work, discussion, quizzes, and games. Many of the lesson activities include teacher led class discussion and videos.

Drugwise Too

Drugwise Too was produced by the Scottish Office and Strathclyde Regional Council. The pack is accompanied by a video Drug Problems produced by the Health Education Board for Scotland (now NHS Health Scotland). The video is designed to trigger further activity for which materials have been included. The pack advises that staff should be trained in the use of the programme.

The package is divided in two - primary and secondary. The broad aims of the package as a whole are:

• to provide information and opportunities to practise refusal skills;
• to help young people who wish to say no to drugs to be able to resist pressure from their peers or others;
• to clarify pupil's attitudes to drugs.

Drugwise Too for the primary sector is made up of 12 activities. It combines the theoretical approaches of information provision, affective approaches which include values clarification and decision making, and the social influences approach of resistance skills. Interactive activities are used in many of the lessons with opportunities for whole class discussion and small group work throughout. Pupils are able to learn from and interact with peers, while being given the opportunity to think for themselves. The video and the worksheets are used as starting points for discussion.

Much of the desirable outcomes of the package are related to enhancing groundwork in general PSHE skills and understanding. They include enhancing drugs knowledge, developing assertiveness, exploring attitudes and respecting the views of others. Practising refusal skills for use in drug related situations are also addressed.

The secondary section of the pack consists of ten activities aimed at pupils aged 10-12. This builds upon the primary programme and aims to encourage young people to review their knowledge and awareness of drugs and issues relating to drugs. Pupils are asked to consider how drugs might affect them and to examine their views about users and people who sell drugs. Many of the activities reinforce and extend the work for P6 and P7. The focus is on influences and responses to drug offer situations and refusal skills. Skills to be developed in this part of the programme include observation, decision making, communication and assertiveness.

2.1.3 Secondary school packages

The following packages were used in secondary schools:

• Drugwise Drug Free
• DELTA 1 and 2

Drugwise Drug Free - A Drug Education Programme For 14 To 18 Year Olds

As with Drugwise Too, this package was also produced by The Scottish Office and Strathclyde Regional Council and is designed to extend and build upon knowledge and skills developed in the pack for younger children. It is based upon an interactive teaching approach which encompasses information provision with affective, life skills and resistance skills approaches. There is an emphasis upon group work and discussions.

Topics include young people being exploited by dealers and on the purity of substances. It is also concerned with providing young people with an understanding of the law. It balances information provision with opportunities to develop skills of observation, discussion and communication, through a range of ten activities. The pack recommends that there should be some involvement from the police, particularly for specific activities which relate to drugs and the legal consequences. Many of the activities include class discussion combined with worksheets or video clips to support this.

Delta - Drug Education Learning And Training Activities

Delta is split into Delta 1 for 11-14 year olds and Delta 2 for 14-18 year olds. There are six lesson plans for each year, designed to be used within a spiral curriculum. The pack is based upon drug education research principles providing relevant, accurate information while encouraging young people to think for themselves.

Its lessons are designed to integrate with the National Curriculum for England and Wales, incorporating recommendations from the Learning Objectives, as outlined by the PSHE framework for Key Stages 3 and 4. The pack recommends an interactive approach, with an emphasis on providing accurate information. There is a balance of learning objectives across information, understanding, attitudes and skills such as decision-making. Opinions and values are also covered extensively.

There are lots of group activities and discussion pointers within the pack. The lesson activities are based around discussions, most of which are accompanied by worksheets. Scenario work features largely and pupils are encouraged to make decisions for themselves. Very detailed information is given on drug laws, providing pupils with the facts on which to make their own decisions. Risk is a recurrent theme in the lessons. There are practical lessons in first aid and how to help people with drugs problems. The link between drugs and sex is also explored. The activities are flexible and can be used in the order in which they appear in the pack or in the order in which the teacher feels is appropriate.

The approaches actually observed in classroom use will be compared with the approaches highlighted in the packages' introductions. This will be discussed in the reports later section dealing with lesson approaches generally.

2.2 How Packages Were Used

2.2.1 Local Authority use of packages

The local authorities differed in their use of published packages (see Table C2.2, below). Some focussed on one package recommended for use in all their schools, while others were less prescriptive and more diverse in their position on packages.

In both South Lanarkshire and Glasgow City Councils a high proportion of lessons were based on published packages. In Glasgow, seven out of eight lessons in the primary sector used Glasgow's Health, while in South Lanarkshire all the primary lessons and some of the secondary lessons observed used What's the Score?

Both Glasgow's Health and What's the Score? were developed locally. In the case of Glasgow's Health, the development consortium consisted of NHS Greater Glasgow and Glasgow City Council, while What's the Score? was developed in the neighbouring local authority of North Lanarkshire. Local teachers were involved in the piloting and the materials were designed with the most pressing needs in the local areas specifically in mind.

The use of the other packages observed in use was more varied. The Drugwise packages were used most widely, in each of the local authority groupings other than South Lanarkshire. ThePolice Box was popular, observed in five schools across three local authority groupings. Delta 1 and 2 packages were observed only in Perth and Kinross and in only one school there.

Lessons delivered by the teachers using Glasgow's Health and What's the Score? were seen to follow the package format closely, both for the topics covered and the activities through which the topics were explored. This was not so noticeable for the other packages and their use by teachers.

Table C2.2. Package Use by Local Authority Grouping

2.2.2 Use of published packages by age group

Generally all the packages were used with the age groups for which they were intended (See Table C2.3 below). The use of specific packages was more common in primary lessons than in those lessons observed in the secondary sector. Glasgow's Health, The Police Box, the BBC Resource pack and S.T.E.P.S were used only in primary schools. What's the Score? and Drugwise were used across primary and secondary year groups, as they were intended, while Delta packages were used only in secondary. What's the Score? was used across the widest age range, consistent with how it was designed to be used.

Table C2.3. Package Use by Age Group

2.3 Other Resources Used

2.3.1 Schools'/teachers' own resource banks

Observers were informed by teachers that sometimes sets or groups of resources were made available to them from which they could select activities, ideas and information for their drug education lessons to suit their own locality, pupils and the amount of time given to drug education on the curriculum. Sometimes these were based on schools bringing together a selection of activities to make their own package of resources which was available as a central resource for all their drug education teachers. Sometimes the teachers themselves held a range of linked and coordinated activities used more or less as a package from year to year. These loose collections of resources tended to be roughly structured by topic, for example, or by age and were usually held centrally in the school or classroom.

Less structured and less coordinated resourcing was also reported with teachers using the following kinds of options:

• Resource cupboards with a number of national packages such as Drugwise or the Police Box from which teachers could select activities on the basis of what the pupil needs were at the time;
• Schools using a specific programme, such as Glasgow's Health or What's the Score, but supplementing it with materials from other packages;
• Teachers combining resources taken from published packages and other kinds of resources such as leaflets;
• Selected package activities actively adapted by teachers to suit local school-based needs at the time.

The origins of some of the resources used were by no means always clear to the observers. This was particularly the case in primary schools where teachers used a number of stock activities and resources which had been photocopied for use over many years, with teachers themselves often unclear as to their provenance. It was also the case that in some lessons there was no clear resource base. This was most often observed where broad-based unstructured discussions were run and was also occasionally noted when outside speakers were delivering a lesson.

Among the lessons not structured on a given published package, the most commonly noted ways in which lessons were resourced was on the basis on an uncoordinated mix of resources or resource bank (see Table C2.4, below). This accounted for the kind of resources used in just over a quarter of the lessons. Almost as popular with teachers was use of the schools' or teachers' own more coordinated 'packages'.

Table C2.4. Resourcing Options

2.3.2 Resources taken from published packages

Some of the resources making up the loosely amalgamated resource banks were taken from published packages (but used unrelated to the package, its activities or in some instances its rationale). Though it was unlikely that the observers were aware of the full range of published packages from which resources were selected in this way, The Police Box, What's the Score? and Drugwise Too were noted in this context.

Other packages from which resources were taken which the observers mentioned included the following:

• Learning ForLife ( TACADE) ⁷;
• World of Drugs ( TACADE);
• Drug Free Zone (Scotland Against Drugs);
• Exploring Alcohol Activity Pack (Greater Glasgow Health Board);
• Snug As a Bug (Hope UK: for 5 - 7 year-olds).

2.3.3 Stand-alone resources

Leaflets

Schools did make use of information leaflets supplied by local NHS Health Promotion Departments. Leaflets such as Know the Score Parents Guide and Drugs - Know Your Stuff (Scotland Against Drugs) were specifically noted as being used by pupils on a number of occasions in both primary and secondary schools.

Videos

Where stand-alone videos were part of a lesson, they were often used as stimuli to support class discussions. A number of videos were mentioned by teachers as being used regularly in the classroom. These included:

• The Leah Betts Video (about ecstasy);
• A Loaded Gun (about solvents);
• Channel Four's Guide to Drugs;
• Channel Four's Talking About Drugs;
• A selection of HEBS videos, including It's My Life;
• BBCLife School programmes;
• Which Way Life Guide to Drugs produced by Strathclyde Police;
• Other videos were used which were of unknown origin.

The Internet

The internet was used by both teachers and pupils as a resource. Teachers used it in particular to ensure that the information provided to their classes was up to date. They also downloaded information from the internet for their personal or school-based resource banks. Sometimes teachers used internet activities as part of a lesson, with pupils using websites for research purposes. Websites specifically mentioned by the teachers included Know the Score and the Scottish Drug Forum.

Games from Published Resources

A small number of lessons used games from commercially-produced packages or programmes on a stand-alone basis or coordinated into lessons from the schools' or teachers' resource banks. Examples in this context include a TACADE card sort game and one from Think B4 U Drink.

2.3.4 Types of resources supporting published package lessons

The range of resources used across all the activities covered in the published package lessons highlighted the dominance of worksheets in drug education lessons (Table C2.5 below). This was the case across each of the published packages in use. Worksheets were also sometimes reported as forming the basis for discussions, either structured or free ranging or as a staring point for other activities.

The What's the Score? package used the largest range of resources. However, What's the Score? lessons account for a third of all the published packages lessons. The resource use distribution highlights a strong information basis to the activities observed from the published package lessons.

Table C2.5. Resources Used During Published Packaged Lessons

*Resources were counted across activities within each lesson

Resources across all the lessons predominantly took the form of worksheets (see Table C2.6 below). However, the published packages used these proportionately more than the other lessons. All other lessons were rather more spread out in their use of resources and also used resources other than those listed here.

Table C2.6. Resources Used in All Lessons

*The activities in lessons where no resources as such were used are not counted here.
**Resources were counted across activities within each lesson.

« Previous | Contents | Next »