Drugs & Alcohol
Drugs prevention through a family of schools
Drugs prevention through a 'Family of Schools'
A ‘Family of Schools’ project in West Yorkshire ran from 1996 to 1999 in an attempt to make more integrated the drugs education and prevention agencies in the area. The primary agents of drugs education were school teachers. One ‘Family of Schools’ is phrase used to denote one secondary school and its feeder primary schools.
At the start of the project:
There was a lack of co-ordination between teachers in junior and secondary schools.
The teachers were unsure what drugs prevention agencies existed in the area and what functions these agencies performed. They felt that drugs education fell outside their professional remit and were not confident in delivering it.
Despite the lack of knowledge, teachers were aware that drugs education was an important issue. It was apparent that pupils making the transition from junior to secondary school were anxious that the older children were users of drugs/alcohol/tobacco
As part of the project, a small team consisting of representatives from Education, Health Promotion, Youth and Community Services in addition to voluntary organisations held half-day and one-day meetings at local schools. From these meetings the goals of the project were established.
By the end of the project,
a drugs policy had been created for each Family of Schools;
an information pack had been developed outlining the local groups working in the field;
teachers reported a better understanding of drugs issues;
all the parties involved agreed that partnership working was the key to success.
To see the conclusions of the report and full details of the study, download DPAS briefing paper 10, “Evaluation of drugs prevention delivered through a ‘Family of School’ structure” Word doc.
Last update: Tuesday, October 03, 2006