WIREDGOV

Public health guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published today (Wednesday 24 February) focuses specifically on school-based methods to prevent children and young people from starting to smoke.

One in two long-term smokers will die prematurely as a result of smoking, and half of these deaths will be in middle age.  Research shows that children who start smoking before the age of 16 find it harder to quit and are twice as likely to continue to smoke as those who begin later in life – and are more likely to be heavier smokers.

The new guidance from NICE outlines effective steps that educational establishments, education and health professionals, pupils and their parents and carers can take to help young people stay away from smoking.  Recommendations include encouraging pupils to lead smoking prevention activities, and integrating discussions on the effects of tobacco use across a range of curriculum topics. 

Professor Mike Kelly, Director of the NICE Centre for Public Health Excellence, said: “The earlier children become regular smokers, the greater their risk of developing life-threatening conditions, such as lung cancer and heart disease, if they continue smoking into adulthood.  By the time they are 15 years old, over 55% of children have tried smoking, and 15% are already regular smokers. This new guidance will help stop children from even starting to smoke, by advising on what action schools can take.”

The guidance recommendations include:

• Schools and colleges should offer adult-led interventions and should consider offering peer-led interventions aimed at preventing uptake of smoking
• Information about the health effects of tobacco use as well as the legal, economic, and social aspects of smoking should be integrated into the curriculum across a range of relevant topics, such as biology, chemistry, citizenship and media studies
• Schools and colleges should develop a whole-school or organisation-wide smokefree policy, including smoking prevention activities and cessation support, that applies to everyone using the premises at any time for any purpose
• Interventions to prevent smoking uptake should link to the organisation’s smokefree policy and involve young people in their development. They should include strategies for enhancing self esteem and resisting the pressure to smoke from the media, family members, peers and the tobacco industry
• As part of adult-led interventions, parents and carers should be encouraged to develop an interest in their children’s class work with respect to smoking prevention, and to reiterate these messages at home.  All staff involved in smoking prevention work should be trained
• Peer-led interventions should be led by young people who have been trained by appropriate adults, and delivered both in class and outside the classroom

Professor Catherine Law, Chair of the NICE Public Health Interventions Advisory Committee, and Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology, UCL Institute of Child Healthsaid: “Children and young people start to smoke and then continue for a range of reasons, which may be connected to their personal or social circumstances.  Being surrounded by other young people and family who smoke can also affect whether or not young people will take up smoking.  This guidance focuses on how schools and colleges can help young people develop the confidence and skills to consider or challenge peer and family norms on smoking.  Education professionals have a vital role in ensuring that rates of smoking in young people continue to fall.”

Mr Alasdair Hogarth, Head Teacher and Member of the NICE Public Health Interventions Advisory Committee, said: “It’s clear that smoking prevalence in schoolchildren increases as they get older. So, in developing this guidance, we considered it most effective for smoking prevention activity to begin in primary school and continue throughout the child’s time in school. Smoking prevention activities should be interactive, factual and entertaining – schools and colleges can work with local partners such as NHS Stop Smoking Services to deliver engaging interventions that help children and young people fully understand the harm that tobacco use causes.”