Lecture 4.2: Smoking, alcohol, drugs and peer pressure

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Del curso dictado por Commonwealth Education Trust

Foundations of Teaching for Learning: Learners and Learning

92 calificaciones

Commonwealth Education Trust

Foundations of Teaching for Learning: Learners and Learning

92 calificaciones

The Foundations of Teaching for Learning programme is for anyone who is teaching, or who would like to teach, in any subject and any context - be it at school, at home or in the workplace. With dynamic lessons taught by established and respected professionals from across the Commonwealth, this eight course programme will see you develop and strengthen your skills in teaching, professionalism, assessment, and more. As you carry on through the programme, you will find yourself strengthening not only your skills, but your connection with colleagues across the globe. A professional development opportunity not to be missed. The teacher’s work becomes meaningful when it is informed by research and theories of learning, and their relationship to actual practice. This course provides an opportunity for you to identify and understand students’ expectations and prior learning. Enhance your course by joining the Commonwealth teaching community on our website, Facebook and Twitter.

De la lección

The power of the peer group

The four lectures this week are all related to the theme of peer groups. We look at the positive and negative effects of peer groups, including how smoking drugs and alcohol problems can affect the classroom and the school, the concerning issue of bullying, and the problems that emerge when we label students in particular ways. I encourage you to write a narrative in which you bring together a reflection on your own classroom, the relationships that peers have within it and how this impacts on your teaching. At the end of this week we are offering you the second interview between myself and Professor John MacBeath, where will discuss some of the issues that arose during weeks three and four. Also, this week, as well as the quiz, you should be starting to finalise the second peer assessment essay.

Lecture 4.1: Understanding peer groups16:05

Lecture 4.2: Smoking, alcohol, drugs and peer pressure12:55

Lecture 4.3: Bullying12:58

Lecture 4.4: Labeling11:35

Conoce a los instructores

Associate Professor George Oduro
Associate Professor of Educational Leadership
University of Cape Coast, Ghana
Professor John MacBeath
Professor Emeritus
University of Cambridge, UK

[MUSIC]

You're welcome again to week four

which focuses on the theme - the power of the peer group.

This time we want to look at the power of

the peer group within the context of smoking, alcohol, drugs.

In our previous lecture, we talked a lot about the

positive influences that a peer group, and for that matter peer

pressure, has on children.

Peer pressure has either a positive

or negative impact on an individual, and here

we want to focus more on the negative impact, because

we dealt with positives in the first lecture. While we

agree, and of course, we saw it clear in the previous lecture, that the peer group

provides a sort of solace and comfort to people,

it can also affect young people's behaviour.

Particularly when it comes to drugs,

alcohol, and smoking. It

is established by research that most

adolescent drug users are introduced to this behaviour by friends.

And one only needs to take a newspaper

to find the number of young people who are engaged in drugs.

And you only have to go to the social welfare unit to find out

And you realize that the behavior has something to do with friends and peers.

A common motive for first time drug and

alcohol use is therefore peer pressure.

Members of a social group that support drug or alcohol

encourages others to keep on using these substances.

Peer pressure is therefore an important

factor when the teacher wants to address the issue

of children's engagement in alcohol, drugs,

and smoking. Smoking violates the

regulation of schools.

And in some schools, smoking can lead to the dismissal of offenders.

Yet, managing the habits of smoking among

students continues to pose challenges to school authorities.

Most innocent students engage in smoking, as

I said, through the influence of friends.

They are pressured by peers to smoke.

And smoking poses health threats to students as they grow into

adulthood. It may start on a casual base, but

when uncontrolled by the teacher, it becomes a regular feature of the student.

The task of the teacher therefore is to help students to refrain

from this habit inside the school premises by protecting them

from peer pressure. Drugs and alcohol

are commonly known as objects that can destroy lives.

But both are quite useful in

our lives when used positively. For instance, in medicine, drugs

are used as antiseptic and to treat diseases.

But because of man's abuse, it has now come to mean a

terrible vice and most likely an associated substance of

abuse. This is what Clarisse, 2011,

observes. And so we need to ensure

that in the school drugs are used positively.

Positively, not negatively. So, while

peer groups, and for that matter, peer power

provides emotional stability, which is a comfort to pupils,

it also affects their behaviour adversely. And it

is a responsibility of the teacher to ensure

that the child does not become a victim or an addict

of drugs, smoking or alcohol. Why do students take drugs and alcohol?

The obvious one is peer influence which we have been talking about,

but there may also be media influence. There are a lot of

media adverts that promote alcohol,

and out of curiosity some children may want

to get involved. Now, the desire to escape from depression

often it can be a way to block problems or find a way out.

And obviously, this is what some people I have

personally engaged and talked to, assign as an example.

When they are depressed,

they think they must drink, and so children may want to.

The lack of good role models. In some homes

parents engage in deep alcohol intake.

And so children see it as a normal thing, which they need to practice.

In some schools too and I have evidence in the

northern part of my own country, there are cases of teachers who get drunk.

at school.

And so, children imitate their behaviour, and by that they resort to drinking.

There's also ineffective management of student welfare.

When student's welfare is not properly managed then it can lead

to peers influencing them to engage in alcohol or smoking.

But as a teacher, you need to be worried about the effect of drugs on the learner.

It can affect the functioning of the brain

and this is what the scientists say,

in the detailed lecture notes you will find information on this.

It can also destroy families and seriously impact on a child's life.

Not only does alcohol affect a person's health,

it also affects the way that they behave.

People who drink too much will be more aggressive or experience mood swings.

They may embarrass themselves or others.

And it shouldn't be surprising when a child who is under alcoholic influence

starts to publicly assault the teacher, or assault the head teacher.

These are effects which need to be controlled. By being that, it creates

disciplinary problems in school. You'll find some people engaging

bullying, sexual assault, stealing

and engaging in other violent activities within the school.

You need to remember that when

a person first starts drinking, it may seem like a bad habit,

but it can soon spiral into a big challenge.

Someone can start drinking to cope with feelings or problems,

as I said, or stress or financial troubles, but when a person becomes addicted

then it becomes serious and can affect the person's learning in school.

How do you deal

with drug and alcoholism in school? First, there's a need for you as

a teacher to regulate peer group activities

to reduce peer negative pressure on individual students.

You also need to involve students

in planning drug and alcohol control strategies -

capitalise on the power of peer influence in the school.

Let children themselves be involved,

thinking through the effects of these things on their lives as students, and

then guide them to invite people who have experienced

the effects of drugs, alcohol and smoking to talk to them in the school.

Engage the assistance of professional drug and alcohol therapists to come and then

educate the children.

And then provide functional counseling services.

In some schools I have visited, counseling services are not very effective.

But, if you have a functional counseling service, it can help address issues.

Remember as a teacher, that drugs and

alcoholic beverages are highly addictive substances

which children must not be encouraged

to take. There are a number of students

who, properly counseled,

would not engage themselves in alcohol,

drugs, or smoking. And so, promote

good counseling in the school. And then don't also forget

that as a teacher you are a role model for your

students. And don't forget that you have another

important resource which could be of benefit to you in terms of

preventing student engagement in alcohol: these are older

students who have been able to resist the temptation of taking

alcohol or others who have experienced alcohol but have overcome their habit.

Such people could be engaged in talking to their colleagues.

Now, I want you to think seriously about this. It's an activity I want you to engage in.

Share your additional thoughts about the role of peer pressure

on student engagement, and drug and alcoholism in the school.

What policies, or rules and regulations

govern student behavior in terms of drugs and alcohol intake in your country?

How best do you think teachers can help students avoid becoming

drug addicts? Now, don't forget that

one of the satisfactions that a teacher gets is to be able to say

"I have helped this child to develop

a positive personality". Do your best

to help save the lives of children in terms of drugs, alcohol, and smoking.

Thank you very much.

We'll meet again. Bye-bye.

[MUSIC]

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