in the early years

Drug Education Matters, issue no. 5 Summer 1999, The newsletter of the Drug Education Forum

In this issue the teachers page focuses on drug education using theatre in health education (TINE). Drug Education Matters contacted two TINE companies to write about their experiences in early years and in secondary schools.

Start talking about implementing drug education in the early years and people throw up their hands in horror. However, if we are to have a cohesive and meaningful programme of drug education that is going to have real impact, then it is imperative that we start at pre-school by introducing effective and age appropriate work. This is the age at which children are forming values and attitudes about themselves and the world in which they live.

It was therefore with great pleasure that the Moving Hands Theatre Company accepted Walsall Health Authority's offer to research what might constitute an age-appropriate programme of work for the youngest children in school. The Theatre Company has considerable experience of health education work, both in this country and in South Africa, and uses puppetry, physical theatre and mime to engage children with a range of important issues.

Our intention was to explore attitudes towards, and knowledge about, drugs held by three and four-year-old children. The work took place over five days at Lane Head Nursery School, and the findings are now being used to inform the structure and content of a touring production and programme of follow-up work for pre-school children.

Using a character called Nathan we created short scenarios that focused on the use of addictive substances. These presentations were followed by discussions during which we recorded the children's responses. To further explore these responses we interacted with the children in a range of imaginative play situations. From the work that we carried out it was clear that the children already knew much about addictive substances.

The task for us is to help them in gaining the skills, knowledge and attitudes that will enable them to cope with an ever-increasing range of choices. It also seems important that we help children to understand that we will not always make the right choices and to consider what we might do in response to making an inappropriate choice. This will involve us in developing good expressing and communicating skills and helping children know about who they can trust and confide in. We must seek ways of helping the children understand the body's response to being unhappy and the range of ways in which we can respond when the body seeks compensation. This work must also involve the children's parents and educators.

The task ahead is to embrace these principles in a tour of early years settings, which uses the power of story and puppets to engage children in this important work.