Drug Education Forums
As part of the Australian Government’s new values education initiative there will be additional money available over four years for drug education forums in every school to inform students about drugs.
Peer participation is a key feature of the forums and it is anticipated that forums will involve parents and others in the local school community. The purpose is to further develop young people’s attitudes, knowledge and values in relation to drug issues.
Schools may choose to conduct forums using one of the suggested models or their own. Possible models include:
- keynote speaker followed by facilitation by experts and/or peers
- school community health fair/expo
- youth focused local summits involving peers as facilitators, interviewers or presenters
- creative approaches using popular culture such as websites, theatre productions, music, visual arts or journalism
- student facilitated quizzes and drug information nights.
For information or an Expression of Interest please contact Jo McLean.
National Schools Drug Education
An additional four years of Australian Government funding will provide continued national support for schools, K-12, through funding of whole school programmes for all students and staff to address school drug education policies, practices and curriculum.
A key element will be the production of new resources and strategies to address current and emerging drug issues for young people. These resources and strategies will be developed to target the early and primary years of schooling. Research has identified these years as the critical period which sets behavioural patterns for later life.
The funding will also provide for the evaluation and assessment of whole school approaches to effective drug education and professional development for teachers to implement a range of Australian Government resources, including further support for the implementation of the award winning REDI - Resilience Education and Drug Information resource .
For information or an Expression of Interest please contact Darryl Buchanan.