Jenny McWhirter

Can schools promote the health of children with asthma

This report describes the evaluation of a whole-school intervention to improve morbidity and psychosocial well-being in pupils with asthma. In all, 193 children with asthma (7-9 years) from 23 primary/junior schools in the south of England participated. Schools (n = 12) randomly assigned to the intervention group (IV) received a staff asthma training session, advice on asthma policy and practice and an emergency beta(2)-agonist inhaler with spacer. Pupils participated in an asthma lesson. Staff and pupils in non-intervention (NI) schools (n = 11) received no asthma-oriented input. While wheeze reports improved for all children with asthma, only the IV group showed lower requirement for medication (P = 0.01), clinically significant improvement (P < 0.05) in activity related quality of life (QOL) and increased self-esteem (SE: social P = 0.01; athletic P = 0.05; behaviour P = 0.001) in girls. SE decreased for NI girls but there was no change for non-asthmatic peers in NI or IV schools which had similar baseline levels of SE and QOL. There was a marginal improvement in the establishment of asthma policies/practices and no change in school absence or staff knowledge. The significantly increased peer group understanding of asthma seen in the intervention schools may have mediated increased well-being in the IV group. Primary schools are a potentially important context for improving asthma morbidity and psychosocial well-being of children with asthma.

A multi‐level approach to community‐focused training in drug education: part 2 – teachers as researchers and partners in curriculum development

Recent advice suggests that single‐level, single‐strand interventions are less effective in preventing or reducing harm from drug misuse than multi‐level multi‐agency approaches. Part 1 described one aspect of a community focused initiative in drug education. The overall aim of the initiative was to support and train key adults within the community to implement locally relevant schemes of work and drug‐related policies. In the previous paper, we described the training offered to parents, school staff and governors in communities in Essex. This second paper reviews both the guidelines for effective teaching and learning in drug education and the importance of effective teacher education. We describe an action research approach to in‐service training for health education coordinators which led to the development of a minimum entitlement curriculum for three different communities within the same county. We offer this combination of research, training and development as a new approach to drug education.

Cross-curricular collaboration in teaching social aspects of genetics

Science teachers can lack pedagogic skill and confidence in handling multi-faceted socio-scientific issues. This project explored the development, implementation, and evaluation of a ‘cross-curricular’ day as a suitable vehicle in eight different schools for both engaging 14–16 year old pupils in active consideration of social aspects of genetics and enabling science and humanities teachers to collaborate in planning and delivery. The cross-curricular research team planned a programme of activities, involving volunteer teams of teachers in development. Pupils in participating schools generally found the day stimulating, increasing their understanding of genetics and appreciation of social aspects. However, implementation showed that some teachers missed important learning opportunities as a result of lack of critical scaffolding of pupils’ discussions and limited expertise in ethical analysis. Cross-curricular collaboration was successful in presenting pupils with a holistic experience but had limitations in developing teachers’ expertise. Continuing professional development for both science and humanities teachers is needed to address socioscientific issues effectively.

A multi‐level approach to community‐focused training in drug education: part I working with parents, governors and school staff

Recent advice suggests that single‐level, single‐strand interventions are less effective in preventing or reducing harm from drug misuse than multi‐level multi‐agency approaches. This paper describes one aspect of a community‐focused initiative in drug education. The overall aim of the initiative was to support and train key adults within the community to implement locally relevant schemes of work and drug‐related policies. In this paper we describe the training offered to parents, school staff and governors in communities in Essex. A second paper will describe the intensive in‐service training for health education co‐ordinators and the action research carried out by teachers which led to the development of a minimum entitlement curriculum for three different communities within the same county. We offer this combination of research, training and development as a new approach to drug prevention in local communities.

A teenager’s view of puberty

Explores what teenagers really think about growing up using the draw and write technique. Tests the relevancy of this technique with older pupils and discusses the outcomes. Leads to questioning the content of the school′s sex education programme. Suggests the technique might be used as an introductory activity to be repeated after the lesson(s) to enable pupils to compare their own responses and to enable evaluation of the programme so that the next lesson can be planned accordingly.

Editorial: Just say “no” to drug testing in schools

Purpose – Aims to assess the merits of random drug testing in UK schools. Design/methodology/approach – Outlines the arguments for and against drug testing and draws on evidence from studies in the USA that seek to determine whether young people are deterred from using drugs by random drug testing. Findings – Both theory and practice suggest that drug testing in schools will not prevent or delay drug use in the UK. Originality/value – The balance of the argument is against drug testing in schools, and will remain so until evidence suggests otherwise.