Research paper
“We don’t have no drugs education”: The myth of universal drugs education in English secondary schools?

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Abstract

Background

Despite concerns regarding youth drug use and ‘standards’ of drugs education in British schools, little is known about young people's routine experiences of drugs education at school, or schools’ other priorities, policies and practices relating to drugs.

Methods

Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with students aged 14–15 (N = 50) and teachers (N = 10) at four schools in England. We used thematic content analysis to explore: young people's accounts of drugs education at secondary school and what they have learnt from this; and students’ and teachers’ accounts of schools’ wider policies and practices relating to drugs.

Results

A recurring theme was that students reported having received little or no drugs education; the majority could not remember having had any at their secondary school. These students were not the ‘drugwise’ youth described in the normalisation thesis and young people wanted their school to provide them with more information. Teachers recognised that schools’ drugs policies were rarely implemented in practice and that drugs education was not a priority. Schools also appear to be adopting new strategies based on surveillance and targeting to control students’ drug use. In some cases referrals to a drugs counsellor were coercive and appeared to merely replace classroom-based drugs education.

Conclusion

This study provides further evidence of the gap between drug policies and practice. It may be possible to increase the priority given to comprehensive drugs education and supportive drugs policies by modifying the incentive structures that schools work within. New targeted responses are unlikely to be effective at reducing drug-related harm at a population level because of the small number of students reached, and can be stigmatising. Further research is needed to explore schools’ focus on surveillance and targeted control rather than universal education, and to examine interventions that might ensure schools implement adequate drugs education.

Section snippets

Background

As drug use has increased and spread more widely into different sections of the youth population so has the evidence of early drug-related harms (Fletcher, Calafat, Pirona, & Olszewski, 2010). Schools are an important site for drugs education and prevention work, both in the UK and elsewhere (Evans-Whipp et al., 2004). This makes sense for several reasons. First, where education is compulsory schools provide access to the vast majority of young people. Second, young people spend a significant

Methods

This paper draws on data collected during two qualitative research projects undertaken since 2006. The first study involved case-study research at two schools in London (given the pseudonyms Park Grove and Highbridge) to explore the processes via which schools may influence students’ drug use (Fletcher, Bonell, Sorhaindo, & Strange, 2009). Qualitative data were collected during the school year 2006–2007 through semi-structured interviews with students (n = 15), once in the autumn term and again

Students’ experiences and views of drugs education, and their drugs ‘literacy’

A recurring theme was that students reported little or no drugs education at secondary school. For example, several young people reported only having had a ‘bit’ of drugs education at secondary school and their accounts highlighted how the implementation and nature of drugs education varied widely across schools, and rarely engaged students:

We’ve had a tiny bit and that's it, but you don’t really learn nothing, just talking about classes of drugs and that's it. But I didn’t really learn

Summary of key findings

Despite the emphasis on promoting young people's health through schools in the UK (DH and DfES, 2005), students at the four schools studied appear to have received little or no adequate drugs education. The majority could not remember having had any drugs education at secondary school and this study provides further evidence of the gap between national drugs policies and their implementation in practice (NatCen and NFER, 2007). It appears that, at best, schools provide minimal, largely

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the UK Medical Research Council. The Centre for Research on Drugs and Health Behaviour is core funded by the Department of Health National Coordinating Centre for Research Capacity Development. We would also like to thank all the young people and teachers who participated in this study for sharing with us their experiences and views, and the two anonymous reviewers who provided helpful and supportive comments on an earlier version of this article.

Conflict of interest

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