There are many intervention programs that target the smoking, drinking, drug-taking and bullying habits found among secondary school youngsters. These programs are set up and evaluated in the UK, US, Australia and elsewhere in the Western world. They have two things in common.
First, very few of these interventions have any significant success. Their results are partial, limited and often persist for only a year or two. Given the high cost of the interventions and the wasted commitment of the adults involved, it does not hold out much hope for developing yet more of that kind of program.
The seriousness of this conclusion is that the four problem behaviours mentioned can have devastating effects on some school students, on their health, self-esteem, spending resources and adult lives. The fact that the adult generation can achieve little in counteracting the growth of these problems suggests a total rethink of how such intervention program are undertaken.
Youngsters not involved in developing programs The other factor that most programs have in common is that the strategies put forward do not come from the youngsters themselves and the latter are not empowered to help administer the programs.
It is understandable that children in primary education would not in general have the ability to think through strategies to deal with these complex and damaging behaviours, nor would they be in a position to direct the administration of such programs. But for youngsters in secondary education there are strong reasons for involving them as the key players.
They are into their early adult years, learning responsibility and open to being encouraged to use the opportunity to experiment with what are normally seen as adult matters. The empowerment of such youngsters could be a major factor in realising the goals of these programs, as they would be far more likely to make a success of initiatives in which they have a major part, than they would be in carrying out programs handed down to them by school teachers, outside psychologists and others in position of authority.
Understandably, most teachers and other professionals are likely to want to develop the behaviour modification programs themselves, on the strength of their greater knowledge of the problem behaviours, and having the authority to ensure that what they specify as the elements of the programs should be carried out by the youngsters - with only limited input from the youngsters themselves. The fact that there are so few successful programs dealing with school students’ smoking, drinking, drug-taking and bullying behaviours, suggests however that the vast efforts made by a great many adults are largely in vain.
Trial with youngsters administering programmes? What has not yet been tried on any major scale is the setting up of school forums where the youngsters elect from among their number those who are interested in giving up some of their free time to help develop and administer behavioural programs for their own school communities.
Clearly these would not be groups acting in isolation from adults, where damaging and cruel Lord of the Flies situations could develop within uncontrolled groups. A few trusted adults would need to serve as monitors and be available for consultation. The choice of such adults would be critical, as they would be selected because of their empowering and empathetic nature. They could caution against certain policies that appeared to be too demanding or too punitive. On the other hand they would need to give the school committees the encouragement to try out their own ideas, and adapt them if the original proposals are not seen to work.
Ref. empowerment 00?, ECDC. Sources: Ref. empowerment 003, ECDC. Sources: Caroline Hunt (CAMH, 12,1,2007,21-26, on an anti-bullying program) and other professional journals and press reports. 06.07.
Copyright: ECDC/PCEO Bristol UK 2008
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