Schools influence health

Because most young people attend public schools, our educational institutions have a great opportunity to help students learn how to understand themselves—what they value, what motivates them and why, how their behaviours affect their health and how their health affects their behaviours.

Education is good

In order to make healthy choices about substances throughout their lives, all students should be exposed to educational experiences that increase their social and emotional competence and overall health literacy. Among other things, universal classroom education should convey accurate information on the risks and benefits of psychoactive substance use and provide training on the practical skills necessary for applying this information in day‐to‐day life. Participatory education methods, which actively involve students in a skill‐based learning process, provide the most effective means of generating the practical knowledge and life skills that make up health literacy.

Education is not enough

It is easy to suggest that schools need to teach our children to avoid drugs. But addressing substance use‐related issues is just not that simple. Despite big claims for drug prevention education, most scientific evaluations suggest that drug education programs have had little success. The provision of information has been ineffective in changing substance use‐related behaviour. Without a doubt, this is partly a result of ineffective approaches that have been used and the propaganda‐like messages that increase the likelihood of students seeing drug education as irrelevant. Substance use is a cultural reality; addressing the related risks and harms requires a comprehensive approach that is much more than classroom education.

Comprehensive school health

Schools have been dealing with the complex issues related to adolescent substance use for decades. A body of knowledge has emerged, providing insight into what is most effective at increasing the protective factors that mitigate risk and help create health‐promoting schools where students gain the knowledge and skills they need to effectively navigate a substance‐using world.

This encompasses the whole school environment, with actions addressing four distinct but inter‐related components that provide a strong foundation for comprehensive school health: social and physical environment, teaching and learning, healthy school policy, and partnerships and services.