Work Package lead: Dr Jenny Retzler, Consultant: John Rees
Educational materials for 11-13-year-olds were developed and produced to enable them to learn skills for dealing with growing up and avoiding drugs. The topics covered in the lessons were:
· Coping strategies
· Decision making
· Goal setting
· Interpersonal skills
· Normative beliefs and peer pressure
· Taking control of your own narrative
These were rolled out over six lessons and consisted of teacher led learning content in a standard classroom environment. Each lesson contained interactive and written tasks which allowed pupils to express their own views and show their understanding. Teachers were given access to a manual to guide them through the materials and highlight the aims of each individual lesson. In addition to this, a series of podcasts were produced to offer teachers an alternative information source to for those short of time or requiring a concise 5-minute summary.
Prior to the commencement of the lessons, pupils were asked to complete a baseline survey, which was done during lesson time. This gauged the level of knowledge of the pupils in relation to illicit substances.
After each lesson, pupils were encouraged to complete a shorter survey to give their views on the content they had received and feedback on how they felt the lesson went. They were also asked if any changes could be made to improve the lesson.
At the end of the content delivery, pupils were again asked to complete a follow up survey. This was to measure the change in knowledge and attitude pupils had following the lessons.
Face to face and online pupil and teacher focus groups were conducted after the lessons had been completed to gather rich data and a deeper contextual understanding of the experiences of the users.
A control school was used, which was asked to complete the baseline survey within the same year group at the same time as the active schools. They revisited this again after the lessons had been completed in the active schools, this gave comparison data for
pupils in that year group showing if pupils knowledge had changed naturally through the school year.