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Homophobic bullying

For some months, SHEU have been collaborating with the lobbying organisation, Stonewall on a piece of research into young people's experiences of homophobic bullying.  The Stonewall survey was an opt-in survey of young people, conducted over the Internet. SHEU were pleased to be involved in this important research, although the findings were often very sobering.
In other work, we have some examples of findings about homophobic bullying from whole-population surveys in schools.  For example, we have occasionally asked whether young people are being bullied for different reasons.
So, from a number of local surveys in 2006, we found nearly 3% of 11,873 young people in secondary schools said they were experiencing bullying because of sexuality (being gay, lesbian or bisexual).  That's about one in every class of 30 pupils.  In 2005, in a single local survey of 2113 pupils, 2% reported the same. More boys than girls reported such bullying in last year's samples: 3% vs. 2%. And the proportion was higher among Year 10 pupils than in Year 8: 3% vs. 2%

To read the Stonewall's report on their website visit a press release and the whole report.

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Ruth Joyce OBE retires...

Ruth Joyce has recently retired as Manager of the UK Drug Education Research programme 'Blueprint' at the Home Office.
Ruth is pictured (right) at a presentation at the House of Lords with Baroness Doreen Massey.

Ruth started her career teaching in secondary and special schools, from where she moved into local authority work to link health and education together. She then became Drug Education Adviser for Cambridgeshire, followed by her appointment as first Head of Education and Prevention at DrugScope. After a spell in DPAS regional offices, she moved into the Home Office and was responsible for the development and delivery of the Blueprint Programme. This major research programme involved a huge amount of work and energy in its successful implementation, and the results and outcomes will build the evidence base for drugs education in this country, which is intended to inform the future development of drugs strategy and drugs education.
Ruth's impact on the world of drug education, and her influence on policy and practice, has been immense. Her contribution is widely recognised, not least by the award of her OBE for services to drug education, but also by teachers, and drug education professionals throughout the country. She is rigorous in her analysis of the issues around drugs, education and young people; determined in the pursuit of policy; tireless in her efforts to improve practice and delivery in schools and education generally; and dedicated to putting young people at the heart of this work. Ruth is continuing to work in the fields of PSHE and drug education as a consultant

John Balding writes:
"My work has overlapped with Ruth’s for over 20 years and I am aware of the considerable influence she has had on the way the structure and services development of SHEU has evolved. She has also positively influenced my personal career. She was/is ever vigorous and forthright, and inspiring. We have witnessed too the ways that her positive and constructive behaviour has influenced many other people across the years, to the benefit of their own contributions. “She has made a difference” and we salute her massive contribution to the progress she has achieved in such an important and difficult field. Ruth will be missed by so many people who, we are sure, will join with us in wishing her well in a long and happy retirement. We note from above that she remains available as a consultant, which is good news. "

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Hi from Krasnoyarsk

We've just received a postcard from Angela and David who have been visiting the Institute for the Psychology and Pedagogy of Development (IPPD) at Kransoyarsk, capital of the Krasnoyarsk Krai in Siberia, Russia.
We were privileged to meet Elena Federenko and colleagues on previous visits to England. Angela and David are visiting with old friends from Dudley in order to explain more about Healthy Schools and learn more about their approach to health and social education. We look forward to hearing more from them on their return. 		fffffffff

In an unrelated development, we found a school we've worked with in Cumbria making links with a school in Nizhny Novgorod (formerly Gorky). They have now both invited pupils to complete the same questionnaire and agreed to share their results, and now are comparing life for young people in the two areas.

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To Peter Griffiths on your retirement

David was recently privileged to attend a small invitation conference organised by Peter Griffiths, retiring head of PSHE at OFSTED. Peter was at his vigorous, generous best, and we welcome the appointment of Margaret Jones to the post. We look forward to her first visit to us in Exeter.

Peter has been a friend of SHEU for over 20 years and I recognise that he had considerable influence on the way our structure and services evolved, and too upon my personal career. We have also witnessed the effects of his positive and constructive on many other people across the years. Ted Wragg, who also showed continuous interest in our development, held Peter in very high regard. They both were members of our Advisory Group over many years and which has served us so well as a sounding board. It would be nice if Peter should continue as a member.
(If there is anyone reading this text who would like to support us as a member of our Advisory Group, please make contact with SHEU).

Peter will be missed by so many people who we are sure will join with us in wishing him well in a long and happy retirement. We are given to understand some gardening may feature in his next adventures. I may have some advice to offer, at least where rabbits are concerned.
David Regis, our research manager, has been immersed in the work of the Unit over many, many years (21) and his wide ranging knowledge of the ways young people behave and think and feel is enormous, and probably second to no other in England. He joined us when he came to Exeter to study for a PhD. (He loves puzzles and his recreational pursuit is chess).

David has worked closely with Peter and writes as follows:
Recently/currently there are two or three major reports from Peter's office to which we were able to provide relevant support particularly in the provision of background information. These were:
Sex and Relationship Education Report [2002]
Time for change? PSHE review [2007]

For these reports, SHEU were able to supply some contextual information about the changing lifestyles of young people, and what these might mean for PSHE. For some issues, we have records going back to the early 1980s.


Parents are generally less likely to be seen as the main source than previously; the decline has been particularly marked for Year 8 females.
School lessons have seen a contrasting rise in being recognised as the main source of sex information for young people, especially Year 10 females


This is a good news story about how well schools are doing, we feel, although we also have some concern about how parents might be feeling.

The first concern, when data like these were seen, was that the young people were being critical of their parents, but in fact they were much more generous than that - when interviewed the usual response was that in an ideal world parents would be the main source, but they accepted that this was in fact unlikely, due to embarrassment on both sides.

There was also concern about the teachers: how were they feeling? Other studies have shown that most parents and children welcome schools' involvement in sex education, and if the question were "what is your most accurate source of information?" or "what is your main source of information on contraception?" we should expect that the figures for lessons (both IS and SHOULD BE) would be even higher.

In an ideal world both parents and teachers would play a role in sex education and would also work together on it. SHEU have designed an INSET workshop for use in schools to promote this collaboration.

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VANESSA COOPER

We were saddened to learn of the death of Vanessa Cooper.

Vanessa was such a warm and positive personality. Our thoughts are with her family, of course. She will also be greatly missed by the wider group of people who knew her in the PSHE community.

I (DR) knew her for many years as a highly capable local co-ordinator of surveys when she led the Healthy Schools programme in Merton, and we were so pleased when she agreed to join our Advisory Group in 1999. As she grew and moved on to new challenges in the National Children's Bureau as head of PSHE, she left the Group but remained someone I always looked forward to seeing at conferences and other gatherings.

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Nearly 100,000 young people surveyed in 2006

A record breaking year for SHEU. We have worked with over two dozen local authorities or PCTs who carried out surveys in 2006. The combined figures from our online and paper-based healthy lifestyle surveys have nearly doubled our previous record total of over 54,000 in 2000. There are a number of reasons why we are seeing more young people being surveyed. Results of our local surveys are compared with SHEU's unique databanks drawn from a broader locality. The commissioning authority is provided with a powerful resource for planning health improvement programmes. Each participating school and college receive its own results. A summary report is available to local partnerships that can be used to assess the impact of their health initiatives. Thus, surveys carried out in local primary and secondary schools and a local FE college provide versatile data for a range of local co-ordinators representing PSHE teachers, Healthy School partners, Drug Action Teams, Teenage Pregnancy Units, Health Improvement Groups and Every Child Matters Teams.

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Healthy Colleges - are they infectious?

The first UK National Healthy Colleges conference took place February 27th. SHEU presented the results of the online survey with 6th Form and FE Colleges and discussing how colleges can use the data to inform their healthy college programmes. Another development over the past 14 months has been the steady increase in the number of people joining the monthly Healthy Student News email. One recent addition to the digest about young people's health and behaviour presented research into sexual behaviour. There were striking similarities worldwide among the factors influencing young people's sexual behaviour and why they might have unsafe sex.

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Happy Anniversary, SHEU

SHEU is 30 this year, having been established in St.Luke's School of Education (now part of the University of Exeter) in 1977. We will be producing a special anniversary issue of Education and Health which will look back on 30 years' worth of work and progress, and to look ahead to what might be the next developments at SHEU. If you would like to contribute a note, or even an article, for this issue, please let us know! SHEUat30@sheu.org.uk

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Quotes from others sbout SHEU

“I would like to say how much we appreciated the work you and your team have put in to this project, a big thank you for the excellent reports that you have completed on our behalf.” (Assistant Director of Public Health)

“The Schools Health Education Unit survey is one of the largest of its kind.” (Daily Mail)

“We are planning next year's programmes around this information.” (Health Education Adviser)

“We have never consulted our young people like this before. The survey makes a great contribution to our ‘best value’ planning.” (Sports Development Officer)

“Our use of the Health-Related Behaviour Questionnaire was commended as part of our accreditation for the National Healthy Schools Scheme.” (Consultant in Public Health)

“Thank you from my staff to you and all your staff. The speed of turn-around of the questionnaires is outstanding in anyones terms.” (Headteacher)

“I have valued greatly the work I have done with the team in Exeter, it has been a highlight of my years here.” (Health Promotion Specialist)

“We never make a move without looking at these excellent reports.” (Public Health Consultant)

“The Schools Health Education Unit has gained a reputation as one of the most reliable sources of information about young people's health.” (BBC)

“The data from last time were spot-on and we have done lots of work with it. We are very keen to repeat the survey.” (Headteacher)

“The Unit has a unique historical and contemporary archive of young people.” (Prof Ted Wragg, 1938 – 2005)

“Every school involved in the National Healthy School programme should start with an HRBQ survey.” (Health Education Co-ordinator)

“I have never looked at myself in this way before.” (Pupil)

“Please send an additional copy of our report; it is the most requested and borrowed item in the whole library.” (Health Promotion Unit)

“The service you provide is of national significance.” (Health Development Agency)

“The children found the survey very interesting and enjoyed doing it.” (Class teacher)

“The Schools Health Education Unit is the jewel in the crown of the Health Education Authority.” (Major General Sir John Acland)

“The Unit is to be congratulated in preparing material of the highest standard and worthy of wide dissemination.” (National Association for Environmental Education)

“The Unit produces an invaluable body of knowledge... providing exceptional information across time and throughout the country.” (Kelloggs)

“Over the last twenty years you have achieved much. The surveys and subsequent reports have painted the clearest picture we have of what young people are doing and what they think.” (OFSTED)

“You and the team have the evidence to show how young people's behaviour has or hasn't changed over time.”(OFSTED)

“You have made a truly significant contribution to health education and health promotion of young people in, not only England, but all over the United Kingdom and beyond.” (NHS Scotland)

“The Schools Health Education Unit has been a unique inspiration to all of us. For me, as I have worked in the many different areas of the NHS, the SHEU, its principles and your determination have always been a cornerstone in what a health promoting service should be about.This week I have been working on a major strategy for service design – it is easy to get solely focussed on hospitals, performance targets, and work force planning – all very important; but at the same the needs of young people and how we need to work across agencies to address the health needs of today and tomorrow must be recognised. SHEU is founded to do just this.” (Director of Service Redesign, North Somerset PCT)

“You have made a fantastic contribution to children’s health education and promotion. I am personally grateful to you for helping to kickstart my research career.” (Prof Neil Armstrong)

“I would like to say that this survey was very useful and made me realise things about PE and health that I had never realised before.” (Sports Co-ordinator)

“Food at school is groovy, especially if your school does Jamie Olivers School Dinners. Viva apples and thanks for the survey.” (Female pupil, 13yrs)

“...the most comprehensive health education survey.” (Daily Telegraph)

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your work regarding writing and compiling the sex education survey. The survey was well executed and the schools have found their individual reports very helpful. The results of the survey have enabled the Local Campaign Group to justify the need for young men's campaigns and given us invaluable insight as to the thoughts and experiences of this target group.” (Teenage Pregnancy Stratagy Manager)

“Just to say a huge thank you for all your efforts in helping us with the Health survey amongst pupils. It has provided us with significant data which will be used across the school to help us improve. It helped us to obtain a healthy schools standard as well. I hope we can make this an annual feature as we can track the changing health of our pupils.” (Headteacher)

“Over the last twenty years you have achieved much. The surveys and subsequent reports have painted the clearest picture we have of what young people are doing and what they think.” (OFSTED - From tributes to John Balding, presented at his retirement lunch, May 2005)

“Your work in developing the Health Related Behaviour Survey was ground breaking and has continued to evolve.” (Director of Public Health - From tributes to John Balding, presented at his retirement lunch, May 2005)

“On behalf of all the health promoters in Scotland I would like to say a big thank to you and your colleagues for your excellent work over the years. This includes not only your survey work but your role as a visiting examiner in Scotland and adviser on course development.” (NHS Scotland - From tributes to John Balding, presented at his retirement lunch, May 2005)

“You and the team have the evidence to show how young people's behaviour has or hasn't changed over time.” (OFSTED - From tributes to John Balding, presented at his retirement lunch, May 2005)

“I very much value the contribution the Health Related Behaviour Survey has made to the public health agenda and feel confident it will continue to do so.” (Director of Public Health - From tributes to John Balding, presented at his retirement lunch, May 2005)

“You have made a truly significant contribution to health education and health promotion of young people in, not only England, but all over the United Kingdom and beyond.” (NHS Scotland - From tributes to John Balding, presented at his retirement lunch, May 2005)

“Many thanks for a major contribution to the health of children in the UK and elsewhere over many years and putting in place the continuation of the Unit.” (Director of Public Health - From tributes to John Balding, presented at his retirement lunch, May 2005)

“You have often stood alone against the media who were often looking for the sensational headline. I have noticed an important change: the media now look out for and report very fairly and fully on the reports from the team.” (OFSTED - From tributes to John Balding, presented at his retirement lunch, May 2005)

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Major-General Sir John Acland

17th November 2006

SHEU was sorry to learn of the death of Major-General Sir John Acland who died today. Sir John was on the Advisory Board of the SHEU in the early years when it was based at Exeter University and funded by the then Health Education Authority. Some of the most exciting work I have done with young people involved the evaluation of a video, "The Extra Guest", Sir John presented to us. The video was about the effect of alcohol at a teenage party.
Later we were honoured when Sir John made the following comments."The Schools Health Education Unit is the jewel in the crown of the Health Education Authority".

We offer our condolences to his family.

He was an exceedingly persuasive personality and it was a privilege and a pleasure to be under his influences.

I enjoyed his company enormously. (A special ashtray was reserved for his use in the Unit offices; smoking is not tolerated in SHEU!)

Please follow this link to an obituary in the Times:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-2466327.html

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The taxing question of alcohol

"The Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, is asking the Treasury to raise the tax on alcopops and other alcoholic drinks favoured by teenagers to price them beyond the reach of young people's earnings or pocket money. Ms Hewitt said there was a real problem of binge drinking among young people which resulted in them 'ending up in the casualty department of hospitals because they are drunk'. However, the Treasury said that her idea was 'not a runner' and pointed out that after a decision in the 2002 budget, alcopops were now taxed at the same rate as spirits."

[Thanks to the PSHE-network mailing c/o NCB for this information]

There is no doubt that alcohol, our favourite drug, is a huge source of health and social problems, far more, it seems than any illegal drug, and probably more than all the illegal drugs put together. However, most of the consumption of alcohol is done by adults and that's where most of the problems are. So, anyone who is especially worried about alcohol intake by school children may be missing the point. Moreover, if children are not shoplifting, they must be given (or sold) alcohol by an adult. So, pointing a finger at young people as usual, leaves three more fingers pointing back at we adults.

While adults, and maybe especially young adults, drink so much, children will want to drink -- and the drinks industry advertises in a way to make drinks seem attractive, fun, and sexy, which is also unlikely to deter our children.

In fact, the alcohol consumption of most school children is modest and mostly done at home. For children who are either drinking heavily and/or outside the home, it is not always obvious that their main problem is drinking -- rather, heavy drinking may be a symptom of something else.

The mention of 'pocket money' by the Secretary of State for Health leads me to think that she does indeed have school-aged pupils in mind, rather than just young adults. What alcoholic drinks are favoured by young people in our studies?

The most popular alcoholic drinks for males and females in Year 10 in 2005 are:
Males:
1 Beer/lager
2 Alcopops
3 Spirits

Females :
1 Alcopops
2 Wine
3 Spirits

So, taxing alcopops in particular may just result in a switch to longer- established drinks like beer, wine and spirits.

We have asked about quantities drunk before now. Dividing the number of units consumed by the number of days when drinking was done, the average number of drinks drunk on any one day was 5 units. ['Binge-drinking' is defined as 6 units in a session for women and 8 for men; if the average is 5, we can guess that the range will include some who drink more than the 'binge' levels.]

How much is too much in a week?
The Government no longer guides us by the week, but offers a 2 or 3 units per day as a maximum for women and 3 or 4 units for men; these translate to a conservative weekly total of 14 units for adult women which I thought might also be appropriate for teenagers. In 2005, no more than 5% of young people said they drank more than 14 units in the week before the survey. However, this figure was 13% for the year 10 males.

Do school children get drunk?
According to their own responses, 19% of young people at secondary schools in 2006 said they got drunk in the week previous to the survey. However, bearing in mind the quantities recorded, those who said they got drunk are probably assigning the word 'drunk' to a lesser level of intoxication than we might have in mind from watching programmes about 'boozy Britain' on TV.

Which drinks are favoured by the heaviest drinkers among school children?

The drinks favoured by heavy drinkers may be different. If they said they got drunk at all last week, the favourite drinks among the Year 10 pupils were:

Males:
1 Beer/lager
2 Spirits
3 Alcopops

Females:
1 Alcopops
2 Spirits
3 Fortified wines e.g. Martini

This suggests that extra tax for alcopops may have an effect on drunkenness among girls, but it seems less likely to have an effect on the boys.

Is price a factor?
There is research at the population level which suggests that the more expensive alcohol is, the less overall is drunk.

At an individual level, we do know (and have previously published) that those young people with higher levels of income -- say, more than £10 per week -- are more likely to drink alcohol, and to drink more alcohol, than young people without so much disposable income. And so, Ms.Hewitt's proposal might well have worked to discourage some young people from drinking so much.

IInsensible drinking?
We have heard a lot about 'sensible drinking', and these days even those very appealing TV adverts from the drinks industry may bear a little tag at the end about drinking responsibly (whatever the message of the previous 30 seconds). [It's not always clear to me what sensible drinking is -- do you have to wear sensible shoes for it? It certainly doesn't sound any fun...]

We have often asked young people, why drink? The single most common response is: 'to get drunk'. This finding puts the idea of promoting sensible drinking in rather a forlorn light. Drinking to get drunk is not to be seen as the exceptional behaviour of an irresponsible minority, but instead the normal behaviour of the majority of young adults who go out to drink. I have seen essentially this point made very recently by Dr Fiona Measham in her study of young adults:

http://domino.lancs.ac.uk/info/LUNews.nsf/x/80BF6A48C99AB4D7802571F8003086F2

IIn 1988 we published a report, the title of which was 'We teach them how to drink!". Clearly, this is still true.

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Reasonably matched

SHEU have been publishing from our accumulated databanks in our 'Young People in...' series since 1986, and more recently in our 'Trends' series. We have been offering a little 'health warning' with these reports, as follows:


Each year we produce a report in the Young People series, and however careful we are to describe the populations involved in the surveys, the total picture is often referred to by the media as ‘national data’.

The surveys that give rise to the data are large, numerous, and from many parts of the United Kingdom, but they do not form a deliberately-selected sample. The origin and structure of these surveys is described very carefully and fully on subsequent pages.

Despite this difference, the picture produced by our annual data set typically matches survey outcomes from other data-collection agencies using orthodox strategies such as stratified random sampling. On pages xx–xxvii we draw attention to evidence supporting this claim.


We have recently had an opportunity to assess if there is in fact a bias in the SHEU databanks, and if so, how large or important is it.

OFSTED hold a variety of pieces of contextual information about schools.
In order to test how representative the SHEU samples of schools might be of the country as a whole, OFSTED were asked to compare the SHEU schools with the national sample on some convenient measures. The results are below:

  2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
  SHEU
schools 		National SHEU
schools 		National SHEU
schools 		National SHEU
schools 		National SHEU
schools 		National SHEU
schools 		National
Pupils eligible for free
school meals		 18% 16% 18% 16% 18% 15% 17% 14% 17% 14% 17% (1) 14% (2)
Pupils with SEN
statements		 3% 3% 3% 3% 3% 2% 3% 2% 3% 2% 3% 2%
Pupils with SEN but
without statements		 18% 17% 18% 18% 17% 16% 14% 13% 14% 14% 15% 14%
First language is
known or believed to
be other than English		 9% 7% 9% 7% 9% 8% 9% 9% 10% 9% 10% 9%
White (UK/other) 83.6% 86.5% 83.4% 86.0% 82.5% 87.9% 80.3% 82.7% 81.2% 83.7% 81.6% 83.6%
(1) 2005 Sample schools : Upper quartile = 27% Lower Quartile = 8%
(2) 2005 National figures : Upper quartile = 22% Lower Quartile = 6%

2005
comparison chart
  • Overall the analysis seems to show a reasonable match between the SHEU sample averages and the national
  • For Free School Meals the SHEU sample seems to be slightly more disadvantaged and this is borne out by the position of the quartiles
  • SHEU samples have a slightly lower proportion of ethnically White pupils; there are in particular more Black pupils, although these are spread across the two main sub-groups (Caribbean and African)
So, our conclusion is two-fold: yes, there is a bias, but it is not a very large or important one.
SHEU would like to thank David Howarth of OFSTED for his time and diligence in producing this analysis.

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BODY IMAGE AND THE MEDIA

We have known for a long while that "the way you look" is the most common worry for young women aged 14-15 years of age in our UK surveys. We also know that around 60% of girls in this group want to lose weight, which, whatever the obesity statistics are like, is far more than might need to lose weight for medical reasons (indeed, we would expect teenagers to put on weight all the time they are growing). Even some underweight teenagers say they want to lose weight.

And we know that teenagers who say they want to lose weight aren't just talking or playing games -- they are more likely to skip breakfast and/or lunch, and may be restricting their diet unnecessarily in other ways.

(When I say "we know", I'm referring to figures from our own and related publications.)

Images of people in the media -- particularly in advertising and film -- are often more white, more thin, more toned than are found in the rest of society. Anecdotal and other evidence suggests that this mismatch between what we see and who we are creates problems for people's satisfaction with their own appearance, and this dissatisfaction can be very deep and corrosive of confidence -- not least among young women (http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-19970201-000023.html). "It's no longer possible to deny the fact that images of models in the media have a terrible effect on the way women see themselves. Women who have eating disorders are most influenced by fashion models.", said Psychology Today after their 1997 survey.
(Tables of Results: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1175/is_n1_v30/ai_19013601/pg_6).

Unkind or even bullying classmates and family members can make this corrosion of confidence much worse; we do know children often report bullying for reasons of size or weight.

For this reason I applaud initiatives by some advertisers who use models with a variety of body shapes in their materials. Off the top of my head I can think of the current Dove campaign, but http://www.about-face.org/gow/ is always happy to record and celebrate positive images of women in advertising. It would be unthinkable these days that we would have no images of black or Asian women in advertising (although I am sure there are still not enough). Why is it that we cannot have more images of curvy women, or cuddly men?

And I can only despair when absurdly young and/or thin models are chosen for campaigns. Again, About Face! has a gallery of offenders. Did I hear right that a teenage girl in the UK, who had recently received treatment for anorexia and was still rather thin, attended a fashion show... and was invited by scouts for a model agency to get in touch?

We ask about newspapers available at home, and group newspapers into three groups:
Group I: Telegraph, Scotsman, Guardian, Times, Independent, Glasgow Herald
Group II: Daily Express, Daily Mail
Group III: Daily Star, Daily Record, The Mirror, The Sun

Where papers from two groups e.g.I /II are present, the upper group(I) is recorded.

We ask a couple of questions related to body image:
Which statement describes you best?
0 'Would like to put on weight'
1 'Would like to lose weight'
2 'Happy with weight as it is'

and

How much do you worry about the problems listed below?
0 'Never'
1 'Hardly ever'
2 'A little'
3 'Quite a lot'
4 'A lot'
and the list includes: 'The way you look'

So, we can look to see if the proportion of pupils who want to lose weight or who worry at least 'quite a lot' about the way they look can be related to the newspapers they have at home.

Year 10 N= 7574 Want to lose weight - Males Worried about the way you look - Males Want to lose weight - Females Worried about the way you look - Females
Group I (Broadsheet) 24% 18% 49% 46%
Group II (Tabloid) 28% 23% 55% 51%
Group III (Popular tabloid) 25% 19% 53% 48%
[No papers given] 27% 19% 53% 46%

bodychart


So, it seems that, although the differences are not large, having the Group II newspapers at home is associated with a higher proportion of pupils wanting to lose weight and worrying about they way they look.

This doesn't tell us that the newspapers are *causing* the concern with weight or appearance, of course, but the connection is at least interesting.

(Good resources:
http://www.sirc.org/publik/mirror.html and http://www.cswd.org/facts.html and http://www.about-face.org/r/facts/ )
(Recent and more local: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3368833.stm )
Research Article:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2248/is_n127_v32/ai_20413253

Dr. David Regis,
Research Manager

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Young People's Drinking

There has been a recent local crackdown on young people drinking in public (TEEN DRINKERS IN CRACKDOWN)

We are often asked to comment on young people's drinking.

It must be noted that for the young people in our survey, However, there are undoubtedly some school-age children who are keen to adopt the heavier-drinking and binge-drinking patterns of behaviour that are found in the 18-24 year-old age group. For young people under 18, the alcohol they consume is usually provided by an adult -- either giving it to them, or allowing them to buy it. (The alternative being stolen drink.) So if we are pointing fingers at young people, at least a finger should remain pointing in the direction of adult culture.

The more flexible licensing laws -- which most famously allow for 24-hour drinking -- are said to be an attempt to move us towards a 'continental-style' drinking culture.

In the context of our actual 'Northern European' drinking culture, it's harder to see the merit in encouraging people to be able to drink for longer.

In fact, continental-style drinking isn't all enviable -- they may have fewer lager louts in France, but they also have twice our rate of cirrhosis of the liver amongst men, three times the death rate from alcohol-related causes amongst men, and very probably more alcoholics. Overall, alcohol is the third largest cause of preventable death in France, and it was claimed last year that one French person in every 10 is ill as a result of drinking.

The UK has had historically low rates of chronic liver diseases like cirrhosis, but we are catching up fast -- our rates are going up, but in the rest of Europe they are going down. Commentators have blamed "official insouciance" for this difference in trends between the UK and Europe.

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Overweight and bullied

We have been seeing in our primary school surveys a proportion of young people who think they are being picked on or bullied because of their size or weight. We don't usually ask this same question in the secondary surveys, but we do ask what are the pupil's height and weight, and from this we can identify overweight, obese and underweight young people.

We also ask these secondary school pupils if they are ever afraid to go to school because of bullying.

Here are some results from Year 8 males (aged 12-13y):
Do you ever feel afraid to go to school because of bullying? (At least sometimes)
Underweight 28%
Normal weight 24%
Overweight 28%
Obese 34%

Sure enough, heavier pupils are more likely to be bullied. When we looked at older pupils and among results for girls, overweight and especially obese pupils were again more likely to fear bullying. We have known for a long while that the fear of bullying at school is associated with low self-esteem; it may be that the low self-esteem developed through living with extra weight in a culture obsessed with physical appearance can be a trigger for subsequent bullying.

Information about their pupils is given to the individual schools involved in our surveys through their own detailed results. Our latest figures show that we surveyed in over 400 schools in one year. We also provide summary reports. Examining these report reveals the wide range of behaviours measured in our surveys. The data from the surveys in the first instance belong to the schools. Typically the schools are supported by Primary Care Trusts and by Local Education Authorities.

Click here for recent figures about bullying.

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Bullying Update

Following Anti-Bullying Week and a news story last month about a girl being physically attacked, we have had more news stories about young people committing suicide after prolonged bullying and further reports of bullying in the armed services. These prompted us to have another look at the figures we hold about bullying: what can we tell about the effects of bullying on the victim?

Our school surveys ask the boys and girls about their perceived levels of bullying, the nature of the bullying, and where it takes place.

Results from two of the questions:
  • Do you fear being going to school because of bullying?
  • Do others fear going to school because of you?
...have been very helpful in discussion in schools in classroom, staff room and at parents evenings. Our surveys allow schools to respond to the self-evaluation form with confidence and local authorities to assess their performance against the 'Every Child Matters' outcome targets for bullying.

As reported in 'Trends', 12-13 year old girls, more often than the other groups, admit to feeling afraid 'sometimes' of going to school because of bullying. Around 28% regularly choose this option and between 7% to 10% report being afraid 'often' or 'very often'. There are more details available: see extract from Trends.

We looked in our large databanks for links between reports of bullying and possible measures of the effect of bullying, like self-esteem. It came as no surprise to discover that levels of self esteem and experience of being bullied are linked:



This is a very striking and an enormously powerful piece of evidence for professionals thinking about young people's experiences of bullying. However, it is still not obvious what might be causing this association:
  • Does the experience of being bullied reduce your self-esteem? This is the natural interpretation, but also:
  • Do bullies select as their victims pupils with low self-esteem?
  • Is it only the young people with low self-esteem who fear the bullying that many may experience?

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HIV cases in the UK continue to increase and are up by 5000 to 58300

A decline in 12-15 year olds' knowledge about the dangers of HIV/AIDS can be seen in results from our surveys, which are used nationwide (and beyond). Click on this link

In this web site we publish a recent set of results from many schools across a wide area. The levels in your school and linked schools, (e.g. the feeder primary schools to the "fed" secondary school) can provide objective evidence to support action to manage this dimension of school life. Examination of the results at parents' evenings, although very challenging and demanding of political skill, can be very constructive.

This page links with one of the eight page reports mentioned above. Click on this link. Examining the report reveals the wide range of behaviours measured in our surveys. The data from the surveys in the first instance belong to the schools. Typically the schools are supported by Primary Care Trusts and by Local Education Authorities, and by one another.

Click here for our latest figures about STIs, contraception and HIV/AIDS.

Individual schools get their own detailed results separating boys and girls and in different year groups. Hundreds of schools are involved each year possibly including your local school. The linked report is very general and shows the combined results together with the range of information collected from the many communities involved.

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Bullying is a current major concern following recent severe damage to young people at school.

Our surveys, which are used nationwide (and beyond), show quite a range of levels of behaviour from community to community and from school to school. Included in the data collected are levels of fear of being bullied at school, and hence fear of going to school.

In this web site we publish a recent set of results from many schools across a wide area. The levels in your school and linked schools, (e.g. the feeder primary schools to the “fed” secondary school) can provide objective evidence to support action to manage this dimension of school life. Examination of the results at parents' evenings, although very challenging and demanding of political skill, can be very constructive.

This page links with one of the eight page reports mentioned above. Examining the report reveals the wide range of behaviours measured in our surveys. The data from the surveys in the first instance belong to the schools. Typically the schools are supported by Primary Care Trusts and by Local Education Authorities, and by one another.

Click here for example figures about bullying

Individual schools get their own detailed results separating boys and girls and in different year groups. Hundreds of schools are involved each year possibly including your local school. The linked report is very general and shows the combined results together with the range of information collected from the many communities involved.

Click here for recent figures about bullying

Note: It is not unusual for the levels of a behaviour holding high media profile to be discovered as being less than the media presentations would suggest. The surveys are very useful to provide an objective view of the situation that exists where you live.

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Ted Wragg (1938 - 2005)

who died, Thursday November 10th 2005.

It has been my privilege to know and to work with Ted since the early seventies. I first met him when he was external examiner to the Exeter University School of Education student teaching practice and I drove him out to schools in Torbay. Soon after this he joined the university staff and became Director of the School of Education. Interaction between us was frequent including playing 5-a-side football, which he played with typical flair and solidarity.

He set himself squarely behind the concept and development of the Schools Health Education Unit from the start and supported its continuing growth and development, even following our separation from the University. He will be sorely missed by us and by his fellow members of our Advisory Group. There was never a dull moment when Ted was in the chair.

He was ever accessible to us and we often exchanged email; our latest concerned his recent masterpiece of television concerning the "Unteachables", as it unfolded.

So many will miss him and our hearts go out to Judith and to his son and two daughters. He was a giant amongst us and the SHEU owes him so much.

Thank you Ted.

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With such a wide coverage of the UK and with many communities repeating their surveys across the years it is very likely that we hold recent data collected near to, or in, your area of the country. To see, click on this link. Express your interest by email to our survey manager. Access to data which is confidential must be carefully sought, but knowing that it exists could be the important first step in addressing major local issues.

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