Schools of Substance: Teacher training and support

Program description

Schools of Substance is an online program offering professional development modules to ensure effective drug education is supported by the whole school community.

Student outcomes are improved where teaching, wellbeing staff and parents understand and support effective education and prevention programs.

A range of half-day professional development programs are offered to upskill teachers and student wellbeing staff, and 90-minute information sessions for parents and school communities. These sessions complement the delivery of evidence-based education programs like OurFutures Prevention Programs, and can help to ensure that alcohol and drug prevention programs benefit from integration in wider school resilience and social connection initiatives.

Intended outcomes

• Increased teacher and wellbeing staff understanding of alcohol and drug use
• Increased ability to integrate effective strategies to reduce use, reduce harm and use effective communication
• Reduced student alcohol and other drug use
• Reduced alcohol and other drug related problems for students

Program details

Implementation considerations

• Target population: Primary and secondary school leadership, teaching and wellbeing staff and parents/carers.
• Program adaptability: The program is universal, meaning it is applicable to participants of all levels of need, and has been designed specifically for an Australian context.
• Staffing: Backfilling is not required. The Menu provider and its personnel must not be alone with any school student or group of school students in the classroom or in any other place at the school’s premises without another educator, teacher or teacher’s aide present at all times.
• Training requirements: Education and training sessions may require access to the web and ability to run teleconference software (Zoom or MS Teams).
• Factors to consider: For staff education and training programs, workshops can be provided flexibly (i.e. time of day, and whether face to face, in person, or blended). Teacher and staff programs are provided over half a day and multiple sessions can be provided depending on need and size of training cohort.
• Australian context: The programs have been developed, evaluated and delivered across Australia.

Cost

Minimum cost

$2,000+

Detailed cost

The Schools of Substance teacher training and support program costs $2,7915 (including GST). All sessions are delivered face-to-face or online by one x facilitator. There is no minimum or maximum number of participants required for teacher or parent sessions. The program cost includes:

• 3-hour training session for teaching and wellbeing staff
• 90-minute parent education session
• evaluation survey and results for staff and parents
• pre-reading resources may be included for staff sessions if requested at no additional cost
• participant manuals or information packs including copies of presentation materials, training manual and instructions for using online platforms where appropriate.

Travel costs are included in the price for schools located within one hour drive from metropolitan Melbourne.

Travel costs, accommodation and meals may be charged at ATO rates when a school is more than one hour drive from metropolitan Melbourne.