A new study in the journal Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy sheds fresh light on how schools can deliver drug prevention education more effectively to young teenagers. The findings offer genuinely encouraging news for everyone working to keep young people safe.

Academics from the University of Leeds and the University of Huddersfield led the research. They evaluated a six-lesson programme called RISUP (Reducing Illicit Substance Use Project). The programme gave Year 7 pupils aged 11 to 12 the decision-making skills, social resilience, and coping strategies they need before ever encountering drugs. Three secondary schools in the Kirklees area of England delivered it, reaching around 700 students in total.

Why Drug Prevention Education in Schools Matters Right Now

The numbers make uncomfortable reading. A 2023 NHS survey found that nearly half (44%) of 15-year-olds in England had been offered drugs, and almost a quarter (23%) had taken them. Treatment referrals for ketamine and nitrous oxide among young people are also rising. On top of that, social media has pushed peer influence well beyond the school gates.

Drug education became a statutory requirement in UK schools in 2020 under Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) guidance. Yet delivery stays inconsistent. Only 62% of English school pupils could recall receiving any drugs education at all in a pre-statutory survey. Most said it was a single standalone session.

The RISUP team wanted to do something different. Rather than loading pupils with facts about which drugs do what, they built the programme around the science of behaviour change. They drew on the COM-B framework (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, Behaviour) to target the skills young people actually need in real-world risk situations.

What Each Lesson Covered

The six one-hour sessions covered normative beliefs and peer influence, coping strategies, communication skills, decision-making, goal setting, and taking control of one’s own narrative. Each lesson sat naturally within a school’s existing PSHE timetable. No specialist training or extra resources were needed beyond the materials themselves.

Teachers received a PDF delivery guide, PowerPoint slide decks with embedded notes, and a series of short podcast episodes, around five minutes each, with practical tips for preparation.

What Pupils Said About the School Drug Education Programme

Pupil focus groups ran across all three schools after the programme finished. The response was broadly positive. Students said interactive activities helped them remember content far more effectively than passive instruction.

“I felt like when we did engaging stuff, I remembered it a lot more, because I feel like it just sticks in your mind, like the moving about stuff,” one pupil said.

Physical activities, role-playing scenarios, and creative tasks like making posters stood out as favourites. Pupils also valued the chance to discuss issues in small groups as well as with the whole class. They recognised the different benefits of each format.

Many described the lessons as “life lessons” that applied well beyond the topic of drugs. Assertiveness, resisting peer pressure, and longer-term thinking all came up repeatedly. “I think we learnt a lot more than just learning about drugs,” one pupil reflected. “We led up to it, like being assertive and different things that can help you stay away from them.”

Teachers noticed the same growth. Many pupils began applying what they had learnt to peer relationships more broadly. “A lot of them kept saying, well if my friends do that, they’re not my real friends,” one teacher noted.

The Real Challenges Teachers Faced

The study was candid about what did not go smoothly. The biggest practical challenge was a mismatch between how the programme expected teachers to teach and how some teachers had always taught.

In schools where PSHE traditionally followed a more academic, written-work format, teachers felt uncomfortable with the volume of discussion and interactive activity. Some believed the lessons did not include enough factual drug-specific content. They thought the skills focus had swung the pendulum too far from knowledge delivery.

Non-specialist teachers faced particular pressure. They sometimes had to deliver the lessons on top of their main subject, and workload left little time to engage with the podcast guidance beforehand. As one subject lead explained: “You want something that you can pick up and run with, because if it is not their first subject, they will probably not put that much effort into looking at the lesson before they go into it.”

Physical space was another barrier. Some classrooms were too small for movement-based activities. Teachers had to improvise, replacing room-crossing exercises with stand-up-sit-down alternatives.

Key Recommendations for Stronger School-Based Drug Prevention

The research points to several practical improvements that schools and programme designers should consider.

First, all materials need to be entirely self-contained. Key guidance, discussion prompts, model answers, and scaffolding for different ability levels should all sit directly in the slide deck notes. A teacher with limited preparation time should still be able to run the lesson confidently.

Second, the link between transferable skills and drug use needs to be clearer. Pupils and teachers both found that connections between topics like goal-setting and drug-related decision-making were not obvious without explicit signposting. Visual learning journeys, structured enquiry questions, and short video clips showing realistic peer-pressure situations were among the top suggestions.

Third, scenarios must reflect the real diversity of young people’s lives. One Muslim pupil said some scenarios did not feel personally relevant. Thoughtful scenario design is essential for truly inclusive school-based drug prevention education. Cultural and religious backgrounds should shape the content from the start.

Fourth, programme designers should build in an iterative development cycle. Some challenges only became visible once teachers stood in front of a class. Real-world piloting before wider rollout is not optional; it is essential.

A Promising Foundation for the Future

All three schools completed the full programme. Pupils described their teachers as confident. Students across a wide range of backgrounds responded well to the content and format.

The research also arrives at a well-timed moment. The Department for Education is updating its statutory RSHE guidance. New requirements from September 2026 explicitly support the development of attributes and skills alongside factual knowledge. RISUP’s approach was already ahead of that curve.

For those working in drug and alcohol prevention, the lesson here is as much about process as content. Getting an evidence-informed drug prevention education programme into classrooms is only half the work. Delivering it with confidence, consistency, and genuine relevance to young people’s lives is where lasting impact is made.

The RISUP programme forms part of a wider body of NIHR-funded research (NIHR205265 and NIHR206772). Further formal evaluations are planned.

Source: dbrecoveryresources