An innovative new teaching tool has been launched in Lanarkshire to help reduce the number of young smokers.
Unfortunately in Lanarkshire 20 per cent of 15-year-olds smoke.
‘Smoke in your Eyes: A Teaching Resource Exploring Tobacco Issues’ aims to tackle this problem.
The new resource, developed by NHS Lanarkshire in partnership with North and South Lanarkshire Councils in consultation with young people and parents, is aimed at children and young people aged from three to 18 years.
Elspeth Russell, assistant health promotion manager with NHS Lanarkshire said: “Around a quarter of all deaths in Scotland are attributable to smoking and it is implicated as a factor in cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke.
“If we want to improve the health of our young people then we need to reduce the number of smokers.
“We hope Smoke in Your Eyes will be used by schools as part of their curriculum to help make a significant impact in reducing the numbers of young smokers and increasing their health.”
Written by two local teachers, Danielle Timmons and Graham Parry, Smoke in your Eyes uses a comic strip format and links closely to the new Curriculum for Excellence framework.
Pupils follow the stories of Scott and Hannah, who experience various situations where smoking is an issue – from a grandparent who smokes coming to stay, to dealing with peer pressure as a teenager.
Christine Pollock, North Lanarkshire Council’s executive director for learning and leisure, said: “The harm smoking causes to our health is well known but there remains a high number of young people in Lanarkshire who smoke.
“Our schools and teachers put considerable effort into promoting the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and highlighting the dangers of smoking.
“The Smoke in Your Eyes teaching resource will be a great help to our teachers, to allow them to deliver high quality lessons on the dangers of smoking as part of the curriculum, and to help show our young people why smoking is so dangerous to their health.
“We are hopeful that this resource will achieve its aims of reducing the number of young smokers and improving their health to enable them to reach their full potential.”
Councillor Mary Smith, South Lanarkshire Council’s chair of education resources said: “The launch of ‘Smoke in Your Eyes’ marks a key milestone in our drive to promote good health among children and young people and raise awareness about the serious health risks associated with smoking.
“Smoke in Your Eyes was produced through the strong partnership commitment of education, health services, young people and parents to tackle the worrying levels of smoking among teenagers.
“The highly innovative format uses stories of Scott and Hannah as they grow up and encounter smoking. It links very well to Curriculum for Excellence and will help build expertise and understanding within all of our schools on this key health issue.”
The two Lanarkshire teachers behind the new resource explained how Smoke in Your Eyes works.
Danielle, a teacher at St Vincent’s Primary, East Kilbride, said: “In order to make the lessons more engaging we decided to build in a fictional context with two characters, Scott and Hannah, best friends who have a number of life experiences relating to smoking.
“Using a comic strip format pupils follow stories about Scott and Hannah growing up, mirroring the age of the pupils in each year group.
“The story begins in primary four with Scott and Hannah aged eight and in the same primary class together.
“Each year, the story progresses and the character age in line with the pupils using the pack.
“We believed that the pupils would relate better to characters who are the same age and could better identify with their experiences.”
Graham, a teacher with Hamilton Grammar, said: “Smoke in Your Eyes closely follows the Curriculum for Excellence and comes in a pack with clear lesson plans and all the necessary resources.
“As pupils learn about Scott and Hannah’s experiences it promotes discussions around the issues around smoking relevant for their age group.”
Smoke in your Eyes will be available on teachers’ GLOW intranet site and is also available on disc.
For more information on Smoke in your Eyes call Elspeth on 01698 377622 or email elspeth.russell@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk