Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 467: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if drug prevention education is intended to be provided as part of the training curriculum for trainee students; if so, when this aspect of training will commence; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23465/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Drug prevention education is currently one component of the social, personal and health education, SPHE, programme of pre-service education for all primary student teachers in each college of education. For post primary student teachers, the SPHE programme is offered as an elective on the higher diploma in education.

While initial teacher training provides graduates with the knowledge and skills required to deliver the curriculum, my Department provides a range of opportunities and supports to teachers to enable them to keep up to date. Drug prevention is well addressed within these.

The primary curriculum support programme, PCSP, delivered a two-year in-service programme in 2001-02 and 2002-03 to all primary school teachers on the implementation of the new social, personal and health education, SPHE, curriculum for primary schools which includes the area of substance use.

Throughout 2003-04 and 2004-05, the support programme continued to offer dedicated support to all schools. During this two-year period the programme also provided additional support through afternoon seminars, evening programmes for school policy committees consisting of parents' representatives and designated teachers and additional school visits. In addition workshops and information evenings were provided nationally through the network of education centres. The PCSP website, www.pcsp.ie, provides a range of documents to support the implementation of the SPHE curriculum in schools. The PCSP regional curriculum support service will continue to provide ongoing advice and support to schools in the coming school year.

The Walk Tall programme was established in 1996 to support schools nationally. Since 2001 this programme supports all 14 local drugs task force area schools — 325 primary schools — special schools — and runs in conjunction with the SPHE support programme. The Walk Tall programme has three full-time personnel supporting teachers to implement the programme in the context of SPHE curriculum. In addition, the programme provides evening courses for schools in the local drugs task force areas and this summer it will offer 18 courses as part of the national summer course training programme for primary school teachers. The Walk Tall materials are available to all schools nationally free of charge.

At post-primary level, substance use is one of the ten modules of the SPHE curriculum for junior cycle students. SPHE has been a requirement within the junior cycle programme since September 2003. The SPHE support service, established in 2000, as a partnership between the Department of Education and Science, the Department of Health and Children and the health boards continues to support schools in the implementation of the SPHE programme with 13 full-time personnel, including one with a specific brief to provide additional support to schools in local drugs task force areas on substance use. On My Own Two Feet is a class-room materials resource for substance-use education in the context of the SPHE programme.

The SPHE support service provides an extensive range of in-service activities and supports to post-primary teachers. These include specific workshops on substance use and support for school-based substance use policy development. This programme of in-service will continue to be offered in the coming year. Further information on the SPHE curriculum, a school handbook for SPHE and the programme of inservice offered to all schools in the coming school year can be found on the SPHE website, www.sphe.ie.

All schools are required to develop a substance use policy in line with action 43 of the national drugs strategy. Monitoring of progress regarding the implementation of this action is planned by my Department.