Teachers of year 7 to 10 students will now have access to a range of new vaping education resources designed to teach young people about the dangers of vaping and help create healthy communities.
Quit Victoria, in partnership with Monash University, VicHealth, the Victorian Department of Education, Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA), and the Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation, worked together to develop Seeing through the Haze: a suite of free, evidence-based, curriculum-aligned vaping education resources for Victorian schools.
Quit Victoria director Rachael Andersen said almost a third of secondary students have tried vaping, which presents a very real challenge for schools.
“Given the strong alignment to the Victorian school curriculum, these resources provide new and best-practice opportunities for engagement in classrooms, something we haven’t had on the important topic of vaping to this point,” she said.
VicHealth chief executive Dr Sandro Demaio said these new school resources will play a vital role in reducing and preventing vaping among young people.
“We know from our successful history in tobacco control that the classroom is an ideal environment for teenagers to learn about the harms of nicotine and smoking. Building on this legacy, the Seeing Through the Haze resources will support teachers to educate students about the health impacts of vaping,” he said.
“As the raft of new regulations come into play this year to address the sale and promotion of vaping nationally, these evidence-based resources are a crucial and timely step in tackling vaping among young people.”
Education Minister Ben Carroll welcomed the free education resources and said they will support schools to prevent and respond to vaping by providing further
opportunities to help students understand the dangers of vaping through day-to-day learning.
“While vaping is a societal issue, schools are rightly concerned about the impacts of vaping on the physical and mental health of their students and are keen to be part of a broader, community-wide solution,” he said.
“That’s why we’re equipping schools with brand-new teaching and learning resources spanning health and physical education, English, science and other subjects, so teachers and principals have more support to address vaping right across the school curriculum.”
The resources are broken into separate modules to help students get the facts on vaping, to understand how social factors contribute to vaping and to develop anti-vaping campaigns to make change. Students eager to test their skills can then submit their anti-vaping campaign to the seeing through the haze schools challenge running throughout 2024.
Details: vapingfacts.org.au/for-schools.
