NCJ Number
196774
Journal
Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy Volume: 9 Issue: 3 Dated: August 2002 Pages: 253-265
Date Published
August 2002
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This article describes a study of policy and practice in drug education in secondary schools in north-east Scotland.
Abstract
All of the secondary schools in Scotland provide drug education, and 86 percent of them conform to current national advice. But this information was based on self-reports by schools and provides no indication of the schools’ understanding of the details of local and national advice, or how they interpret such advice and put it into practice. The aims for this research were to: (1) investigate the current status of secondary school-based drug education in Grampian, north-east Scotland; (2) carry out an in-depth study of policy and planning of drug education in selected schools; and (3) study the factors that had an impact on the quality and effectiveness of drug education in the selected schools. This is the first stage of the research and makes use of the qualitative interviews with staff in selected secondary schools in the Grampian region. This choice of methodology and the strengths and weaknesses of the procedures used in the study are discussed in terms of their impact on the reliability, transferability, and truthfulness of findings. Issues such as the position of the researcher, the selection of schools, and the experience of respondents are considered. The strategies used to deal with these issues, such as the use of theoretical sampling, studying the leading edge of change, careful complete transcription, independent experts, and a pilot study, are also discussed. This study is now complete and results will be presented in a subsequent paper. 1 figure, 34 references