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Whole-school road safety and alcohol and other drugs education
A whole-school approach is best practice to promote health and wellbeing.
Topic: Drug education , Road Safety
Every member of the school community plays an important role in strengthening young people’s understanding of road safety and alcohol and other drugs (AOD). A solid understanding of these issues enables students to make healthy, safe and informed choices.
Developing partnerships and engaging with key stakeholders, including parents:
- reinforces shared beliefs and understandings
- provides students with multiple exposures to key messages about road safety and AOD education.
By providing safe and supportive learning environments, you can build trusting, respectful and culturally responsive relationships with students, staff, families and communities to meet diverse student needs and maximise learning outcomes.
Aspects that strengthen road safety and AOD education
There are many aspects that connect to strengthen road safety and AOD education:
School culture and environment
Exemplifying collective efficacy to create safe, supportive, inclusive and culturally responsive learning environments. Examples include:
- involving your school board and Parents and Citizens (P&C) Association in whole-school planning
- having support systems in place
- providing opportunities for staff to access professional learning.
Teaching and learning resources
Evidence-informed teaching and learning resources that support young people in developing the knowledge and skills to make healthy, safe and informed choices. Examples include:
- using Road Safety and Drug Education (RSDE) branch resources
- providing opportunities for staff to access professional learning
- ensuring scope and sequences are regularly reviewed and updated.
Engagement with parents
Engagement with parents to enhance collective understandings and responsibilities in developing student knowledge, skills and understandings. Examples include:
- communicating with parents
- providing education and information for parents
- involving parents in the whole-school planning process
- supporting community initiatives.
Student voice and agency
Student voice and agency empower students to actively make decisions and advocate for their own wellbeing and that of others at school and in the community. Examples include:
- involving students in decision making processes.
Collaborate with key stakeholders, representative groups and agencies
Collaborate with key stakeholders, representative groups and agencies to benefit all students and enhance learning programs. Examples include:
- engaging school support services such as community health nurses, chaplains and school psychologists
- providing referrals to specialist AOD support services when required
- assessing suitability of any external providers or presenters to ensure best practice approaches are followed (e.g. using caution when engaging a guest speaker).
Document
Whole-school approach to road safety education
This template supports school staff to develop a whole-school road safety education plan. Staff developing the plan can populate the relevant boxes of the template with their school-specific information.
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Document
Whole-school approach to alcohol and other drug education
This template supports school staff to develop a whole-school alcohol and other drug education plan. Staff developing the plan can populate the relevant boxes of the template with their school-specific information.
Multi-tiered system of support (MTSS)
A multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) is a framework that supports schools to:
- consider student needs holistically
- use data to identify wellbeing, engagement and achievement needs
- provide interconnected interventions in response to these needs
- tier these interventions (sometimes referred to as systems and practices) based on the complexity of the needs of students.
Tier 1 - Universal interventions (80% of support)
- This support promotes positive behaviours for all students and maintains safe, respectful learning environments with preventive, agreed whole-school systems and practices.
- All students engage in road safety and drug education along with the personal and social behaviour capability as outlined in the Western Australian curriculum.
- Examples of interventions at this level include prevention education, and the development of whole-school responses.
Tier 2 –Targeted interventions (15% of support)
- This support is for students displaying low-level behaviours or emerging behaviours of concern that need to be addressed.
- Examples of interventions at this level include early intervention initiatives and supports aimed at responding to individuals or groups of students who require further social, emotional, behavioural or learning supports.
Tier 3 – Intensive interventions (5% of support)
- This support is focused on individualised support.
- Examples of intensive interventions include referrals to specialist support services.
These resources are delivered by the Department of Education as part of the School Drug Education and Road Aware (SDERA) program. The SDERA program is funded by the Road Safety Commission, Mental Health Commission and the Department of Education to deliver road safety and alcohol and other drug education across the Western Australian education sector and systems. The SDERA program is supported by Catholic Education Western Australia and the Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia.
Contact
For guidance and support with a whole-school approach, contact:
Road Safety and Drug Education
Statewide Services
Department of Education
Phone: 9402 6415
Email: [email protected]
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