TAKING DRUGS TO SCHOOL

Schools, drugs education and the Green Paper

by Ruth Joyce.

Within the field of education the Green Paper is likely to be welcomed as supporting a positive, multi-agency approach towards an issue which has for the last years been predominately a criminal justice response to drug use rather than one of education and prevention. The focus of the new strategy on crime, young people and public health is broadening the base of responsibility for the real problem of greater numbers of young people, who at increasingly early ages are experimenting with ranges of substances. However, it only briefly alludes to what many of us see as being the main causes for the increasing use of substancesÐthat of limited jobs, housing and similar opportunities which create a feeling of dissatisfaction and hopelessness within some members of our communities, thereby not addressing some of the main underlying causes, particularly for young people.

The acknowledgement in the strategy stating whilst there is a strong emphasis on preventing young people from misusing drugs in the first place, there will still be Some who choose to experiment...and it is therefore import, to ensure that drug services are available and accessi to young people", will be welcomed by schools who hc often been held totally responsible for the educati process. This acceptance of reality and of the need fa broad range of responsesÐwell beyond schoc resources who on a sometimes daily and usually wee basis are dealing with drug-related incidents which if handled sensitively can bring the wrath of local me and subsequently the local community onto their hec Ðis important.

Schools at the forefront of drugs issues have be developing work which cover the principles a performance indicators within the document a formulating policies which describe staff courses of acti developing pastoral and quality curriculum delivery. 1 acknowledgement that outside services can play act roles in supporting schools in these areas will welcomed, including the description of the most effect ways of working

However, although this is the intention of the documc for many schools in an area such as Cambridgesh which is semi-rural with a rapidly growing populatior young families, the availability of local support fr appropriate drug agencies may not be the reality remains to be seen whether some drug agencies wo view "experiments" as appropriate clients of their service.

Little new money is being put behind the strategy to as a carrot which could be a very direct way encouraging policy makers to respond. Rather it tal the form of suggesting a review of policies in exister and reprioritising existing resources. Our own experier in both schools and the community is that when fund is reduced or just unavailable, without additio resources change is unlikely to occur on either a loca grand level. Successful prevention projects are likelb be difficult to fund from existing resources, and whilst Green Paper announces an expansion of existing d prevention teams, it is noted that none of these funct in our rural areas.

Here, statutory and non-statutory agency workers, police and social services have a good record of close co-operation through the DrugAllianceÐWorking Together document we are signatory to, where we encourage the delivery of quality provision to schools and colleges, and within line with the guidance from the Home Office booklet ÐDrug Education in SchoolsÐthe Need for New Impetus. But drug education is not, of course, an issue solely for schools and agencies will also support work to empower local communities and others. However such agencies' prime focus is the care of individuals affected by substance use, and they cannot be expected to undertake a significant increase in their workload without further resources. This same dilemma exists for schools themselves, where although there is earmarked funding available from April 1995 for schools the management of these potentially small sums could pose a problem, rather than a support. It may do little more than raise awareness to a need, but be insufficient and insubstantial enough to meet those needs.

Schools are expected, through the Green Paper and the draft document from the Department for Education to develop both a pastoral and a curriculum response to drug issues within a short timescale. For some schools, especially where there is no key worker at local authorit level, it may be another uphill task, especially when s much is already expected of them in other areas of schoz management. Many of our local schools are small, bt have to respond to the same rigorous expectations. Ho~ realistic is it to expect a headteacher and governing bod to develop sufficient competence and confidence in the teachers to deliver the aims and objectives within th papers? Experience has shown us that effective, lon term change in schools requires certain key elements t assure success. They include commitment from ke figures, adequate funding, sustained support, realist goals and appropriate rewards. If the drug action tearr are the only ones to receive funding, there may need l be cuts at another level to move money into operation level. If we are to do more than hope that the Governmel strategy will work, it needs to be adequately funded at E levels, with a commitment to long term support clear backing it.

Ruth Joyce is CountyAdviser for Drugs and Health Ed cation in CambridgeshireÐone of the remaining DrL Education Co-ordinators retained by the local authorit She is also a member of the full Home Office Advisoj Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) and sits on th Prevention Working Group. The views represented in th article are personal ones.