Whole School Drug Education Plan
Research shows that school drug education opens up a dialogue about drugs and consequences of drug use that can increase help seeking behaviour where concerns around drug use exist.
Each school is required to have a whole school plan for positive behaviour support that outlines the measures that will be taken to address drug and alcohol use by students. This plan must focus on teaching strategies, classroom management strategies and provision of evidence-based drug and alcohol education. Refer to the Student Behaviour Policy and Procedures and to SDERA’s School Drug Education Guidelines for more information.
The plan should provide a structure for:
- the provision of evidence-based and effective classroom-based drug and alcohol education
- responding appropriately to any issues involving concerns around drug and alcohol use or where drug use incidents have occurred. This means that all staff can be equipped with the knowledge of what to do within their role in the school in order to respond appropriately.
Having a drug education plan that is documented and shared across the whole school community is protective of staff as well as students and also ensures that parents understand the school’s intentions to work proactively when drug use issues arise.
When schools have a drug education plan that includes outlined procedures for incident management and intervention support, this ensures a consistent and thorough process is followed in the school’s response to a drug-related incident or issue. It also makes sure that, while having appropriate consequences, the school’s response does not isolate or marginalise a student who may already be struggling. Rather these procedures guide schools to provide a clear direction that can assist students to address any issues through appropriate support within the school and, where required, through referral by appropriate staff to relevant community-based services.
SDERA can help you to develop a whole school drug education plan (School Drug Education Guidelines). Contact us or attend our Developing a whole school drug education plan professional learning workshop.
Download examples of primary and high school guidelines here.
To know more about community-based support services, click on the Who can help? tab.
Department of Education schools
The Student Behaviour Policy, effective 4 January 2016, requires schools to provide every student with the education supports the student needs to learn and maintain positive behaviour.
Principals must, in accordance with the Student Behaviour Procedures, document a whole school plan to support positive student behaviour.
It is a requirement that this plan addresses student behaviour related to alcohol and other drug use and provision of evidence-based drug and alcohol education.