Background
AIM (Alcohol in Moderation) has put its educational outreaches into a charitable arm, known as the Alcohol Education Trust, with teachers solely as trustees.
The Alcohol Education Trust has a very specific remit – the provision of alcohol education in different ways, to pupils age 11 - 16, their parents and to provide coherent and up to date accurate resources and lesson plans for teachers.
The Talk About Alcohol website has been developed for the 11-16 year-old age group. It is within this age range that young people may begin to become inquisitive about alcohol and its effects, experiment with drinking with their peers, and in some cases establish patterns of drinking, including drinking to get drunk.
The school curriculum includes the requirement to teach about alcohol. Research suggests that teachers believe they have a role in educating young people about drinking. However, many of them lack appropriate teaching resources to help them do so.
The strategy of Talk About Alcohol is to use areas of interest and concern to young people to stimulate engagement with the subject and with associated issues as they affect young people. Contact will be through the classroom via curriculum-based teaching material. There is also a section developed specifically for use by young people in their own time. In addition, information and advice for parents is provided in a separate section to help them to address alcohol issues with their children.
The original programme was developed by EFRD and EACA with the support of a team of education experts, teachers and young people, in partnership with the following organisations:
- The European Association of Teachers (AEDE)
- The Confederation of Family Organisations in the European Union (COFACE)
- Generation Europe Foundation
It was developed for the UK by the Portman Group.
Talk About Alcohol has been through a rigorous research, development and piloting process. During the pilot teachers, students and parents in three European countries gave a very high approval rating to the site.
