Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 May 2004
88 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Education and Science his plans to address increasing instances in schools of teachers encountering students under the influence of alcohol or drugs; if his attention has been drawn to the recent ASTI survey on general disciplinary problems in schools here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14365/04]
View answerI am aware of the survey, conducted by the ASTI, referred to by the Deputy. While education has a role in addressing the problem of the misuse of substances, particularly alcohol misuse, effecting change in this area also depends on consistent support from the drinks industry, parents and society as a whole. A responsible attitude to the promotion of alcohol, especially in targeting young people, and ensuring rigorous implementation of the law on legal age limits regarding the sale of alcohol are an essential part of this approach. Parents also have a responsibility in helping children and young people to adopt sensible and responsible attitudes and behaviours. In general the community as a whole needs to reflect on the general attitude to the misuse of substances.
Schools can play an active role in addressing the problems and consequences of the misuse of substances through the SPHE, social, personal and health education, curriculum which focuses on developing an informed and sensible attitude to substances. Through the SPHE curriculum, students are enabled to develop a framework for responsible and informed decision making about their health, personal lives and social development. In particular, the substance use module of the SPHE curriculum focuses on the issues relating to the use and misuse of a range of substances. While most young people are aware of the implications and consequences of misusing substances, the SPHE curriculum actively seeks to promote healthy and responsible choices by students in relation to their lives.
All post-primary schools were required to implement the SPHE curriculum as part of the junior cycle core curriculum from September 2003. The 2003-04 return of pupil information from 743 post-primary schools indicates that all post-primary schools are complying with this requirement. Ongoing support in the implementation of SPHE continues to be provided to schools through the post-primary SPHE support service, which is a partnership between the Department of Education and Science, the Department of Health and Children and the health boards.
Supports are also being provided to schools through the SPHE support service for the development of their substance use policies within which alcohol can be addressed alongside tobacco and drugs. Guidelines for developing a school substance use policy were prepared by my Department together with the Department of Health and Children and the health boards and circulated to schools in 2002 in accordance with action 43 of the national drugs strategy. The central objective of a school substance use policy is the welfare, care, protection and education of every young person. The school policy can ensure schools have a coherent framework for providing appropriate education and managing issues relating to substance misuse, including alcohol misuse, in a planned and considered way. In 2002, schools were asked by my Department to engage with the process of developing their substance use policies, if they were not already engaged with this process or if they did not have one in place already.
It is important that while acknowledging that student discipline is an issue in schools we do not talk this up to being a crisis. It is undoubtedly the case that a small proportion of students cause serious problems in schools. The reasons for this are not simple and are societal as much as educational. That said, I do not think that today's generation of young people is more disruptive than their predecessors. The reality is that as we have progressively increased the retention rate in our formal education system we are retaining students who in the past would have dropped out of school early. This poses challenges for schools and for society. There are no simple answers or magic wands available here.
A school's code of discipline and the inclusive way in which it is framed is important, particularly in harnessing student and parental support. We also have to look at whether the formal school model best meets the needs of all students and whether other models need to be developed. As against this we have to be careful not to promote the exclusion of problem students as this will leave us with a greater problem down the road.
