Vol. 572 No. 6
206 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Education and Science if all secondary schools have implemented the substance misuse prevention programme; the number of extra support staff which have been recruited by his Department to enable the delivery of substance misuse prevention; and the cost of recruiting these extra staff. [23942/03]
At post-primary level, education concerning substance misuse and prevention is addressed in schools in the context of the social, personal and health education – SPHE – curriculum. A 2002 survey of implementation of SPHE in post-primary schools indicated that two-thirds of post-primary schools were implementing the programme. The implementation of the SPHE curriculum at junior cycle has been supported by the post-primary SPHE support service since September 2000.
This support service consists of a national co-ordinator and 11 regional development officers working in partnership with the health promotion officers and drug education officers of the health boards. The support service is being jointly funded by my Department and the Department of Health and Children, together with the health boards.
With effect from September 2003, all post-primary schools must implement the SPHE programme. To date, the recruitment costs to my Department associated with this programme have been in excess of €1.2 million.
An SPHE syllabus for use at senior cycle level is in preparation by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.
