DRUG EDUCATION POLICY2013

Rationale

Effective drug education is important because young people are faced with many influences to use both licit and illicit drugs. Education can play a counterbalancing role in shaping a normative culture of safety, moderation, and informed decision making.Underpinning effective drug education is the use of a harm minimisation approach. This approach aims to reduce the adverse health, social and economic consequences of drugs by minimising or limiting the harms and hazards of drug use for both the community and the individual without necessarily eliminating use. It is recognised that teachers are best placed to provide young people with the skills and knowledge to make sound choices and decisions.

Aim: To ensure all students feel safe from harm and supported to achieve their full potential. Drug education includes an emphasis on:

  • developing students’ life skills and protective behaviours
  • promoting the range of relationships in which students can engage
  • ensuring that students are connected to their schooling
  • external influences such as, media, family and peers.

Strategies:The Drug Education program implements and reviews ongoing, effective drug education in Victorian schools using prevention and harm minimisation approaches.Harm minimisation involves a range of strategies to prevent and reduce drug-related harm, including prevention, early intervention, safer drug use and abstinence. It takes into account the relationships between people, the drugs they use and the environments in which they use them. A harm minimisation approach allows schools the flexibility to develop specific focus areas and implementation strategies that address relevant issues within the school context.

The available evidence-base suggests that effective drug education programs should:

  • increase student’s knowledge, social and life skills, and refusal skills towards licit and illicit drug use
  • include content relevant to young people’s experiences and interests
  • contain highly interactive pedagogies that engage students in problem solving and critical thinking
  • commence activities prior to initial experimentation and continue as young people mature
  • provide significant coverage of relevant issues complimented by follow up booster sessions
  • position drug education within a broader health and personal learning curriculum that focuses, amongst other things, on mental health issues such as stress and coping
  • respond to cultural and social needs of the school community
  • engage parents where possible.

The ‘National Principles for School Drug Education’ is understood to be effective school practice in drug education. This resource is available for download at:

Program Requirements

The College will:

  • implement relevant and comprehensive drug education as an ongoing core component of the curriculum
  • provide each student with a minimum of 10 hours per year of appropriate drug education prevention and intervention programs
  • develop and review drug-related school-based policies and procedures
  • provide a supportive environment that involves parents and the wider school community in drug-related curriculum and welfare issues.

Resources:

A range of drug education resources are available to assist in School Drug Education.

Teaching and Learning resources:

General resources and information:

Evaluation: The effectiveness of the program will be reviewed as part of a four year school strategic plan and continuous school improvement.

Next Review Year: 2014