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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 11 Hansard (6 November) . . Page.. 3830 ..

Ms McRAE - asked the Minister for Education and Training on notice on 4 September 1997:

For each of the financial years 1995/96, 1996/97 and 1997/98

1. Can the Minister provide details of any drug use prevention programs conducted in schools, including:

a) the curriculum that is followed; and

b) whether the programs are run by teaching staff or are taught by others to school age students.

2. If the programs are run by others, can the Minister provide a description of the courses.

MR STEFANIAK - the answer to Ms McRae's question is:

(1) (a) All schools in the ACT base their curriculum development on the ACT Curriculum Frameworks and Profiles. Drug education is addressed in Health of Individuals and Populations, Safety and Human Relation strands of the ACT Health and Physical Education Curriculum Framework. School health curriculum are approved by their school boards and are sensitive to their communities needs.

Schools approach drug education topics in varied ways to suit their students' needs.

Secondary colleges organise activities which include days focused on the effects of drugs including illegal drugs.

Schools run drug education programs individually and in clusters. As an example, the Lake Turreranong College/Lanyon High cluster are working closely together to develop a sustainable, sequenced and consistent drug education program from K to Year 12.

On the north side there is a program involving the four colleges, Copland, Dickson, Lake Ginninderra and Hawker directed at developing communication skills between parents and their children.

The department and individuals in schools provide professional development for teachers in the area of drug education. Specialists in this area may be accessed by teachers to update their skills.

Primary school teachers are offered professional development through the School Development in Health Education (SDHE) Project. This program has been running eight years.

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