Life Education Australia’s school drug prevention programs have come out on top, according to a recent review.

Drug Free Australia (DFA) congratulates Life Education Australia on its efforts in Australian schools.

“From small ‘grassroots’ beginnings, this organisation has grown into a progressive, national program, that is impacting positively and professionally on its school community partners”, says DFA’s spokesperson Brian Watters.

According to a review, commissioned by the Department of Health & Ageing and administered by Erebus International, Life Education Australia is a leader in its field.

For example, there are significant achievements for Life Education, in a range of areas:

• Its materials and resources are based on sound theory and current research.
• Life Education adopts a holistic perspective to its work by focussing on the overall health and well being of students as its essential guiding principle.
• From the early years of schooling, Life Education’s interactive lessons put students in situations where they need to make decisions, solve problems and discuss with other students alternative choices to address problem situations that relate to their own health and well-being. 
• The real life settings provide an excellent model for teachers to follow up on, using well designed learning materials,  once the Life Educator has left the school.
• The comprehensive links, within the learning materials, to State and Territory curriculum frameworks are greatly appreciated by teachers and school executive”.

Additional funding would yield even greater impact:
The report also highlights the fact that Life Education Australia has the potential to expand its expertise into a range of diverse areas that would be of assistance to schools and their state educational systems, if further funding were to be made available. For instance:

• The ability to develop strategies that Life Education can initiate to assist schools to more systematically engage students with the area of health and well being. 
• Life Education’s modus operandi for the future could encompass an increased advocacy role for good practice in drug education. Drug education is best taught as part of a sustained, whole school program. Building the capacity of classroom teachers to undertake this role is central to creating the conditions for school success”.

In addition, a recent survey of 800 schools, revealed that over 90% of teachers indicated a high level of satisfaction with Life Education programs and would be happy to re-book sessions for their students.

“Such evidence reinforces the current levels of teacher satisfaction with the service provided by Life Education. It also highlights the active role Life Education can play as it begins to focus on local teacher capacity building, to ensure sustained student outcomes in the future”, says DFA’s Executive Officer, Josephine Baxter.