General News
11 February, 2024
Vaping in class / Teachers given resources to fight back
Horsham secondary school colleges will be introducing anti-vaping material into their lessons this year as teachers go on the front foot to stem the dangerous habit.
Horsham secondary school colleges will be introducing anti-vaping material into their lessons this year as teachers go on the front foot to stem the dangerous habit.
Holy Trinity Lutheran College and St Brigid's College principals have both given the green light to the initiative, which has been launched by Quit Victoria and rubber-stamped by the Victorian Department of Education.
With three in 10 secondary students admitting they have used e-cigarettes - now illegal since legislation was tightened on January 1 - schools and health bodies are ramping up the messaging to prevent more young people getting hooked.
While Wimmera schools last year had "addressed" vaping, according to Grampians Community Health, none was willing to say how they had tackled the scourge - despite the alarming uptake of exotically-flavoured vapes aimed at the teenage market.
However, now that the law bans e-cigarettes containing nicotine - except with a prescription - anti-vaping resources will become more prevalent in the classroom.
Quit Victoria director Rachael Andersen said more than 29 per cent of secondary students had tried vaping, posing a very real challenge for schools.
"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.
Secondary students in Years 7 to 10 will receive targeted information on vaping education - under the banner "Seeing through the Haze" - broken into separate modules to help students absorb the facts on vaping, including how social factors contribute to its uptake.
The package of "free, evidence-based, curriculum-aligned vaping education resources" has been developed by leading health and education bodies.
Holy Trinity Lutheran College principal Jason Przibilla said his school was looking to utilise the program as part of its Year 10 health curriculum, where the school already "touches on the topic of vaping".
"HTLC is aware of the risk vaping poses to teenagers and welcomes this initiative as a proactive way to educate students on making healthy and safe choices," he told The Horsham Times.
Mr Przibilla also said there was the possibility of including the resources as part of its Year 8 "Staying Safe" health unit.
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St Brigid's College principal Gerard Raven also welcomed the move, saying his school was "very interested in the resources that have been put forward".
"As we become more familiar with the resources, we will consider how they may be used within our curriculum," he said.
"Health and wellbeing are the key priorities of care for young people, and our school community draws on the best and most current evidence-informed resources in supporting the students of our community."
Horsham College did not respond to requests for comment.
The Horsham Times last year exposed the local school-age trade in illegal vapes in a series of articles after a former teen vape dealer said he bought a stash of the e-cigarettes, both online and in stores - including in Horsham - and sold them to local students for $50 each.
He was pocketing $15-$25 in each sale.
“It was an awesome business and I made a sweet profit,” he said.
“I never got asked for ID at the shop, and it wasn’t until I got snitched on that the school caught me.”
At the time, high schools across the region were reticent to discuss what steps they were taking to address vaping among their students.
Only one of the region's six principals - Sally Klinge of Dimboola Memorial Secondary College - was prepared to talk on the record.
"My advice to young people is to be strong and not give in to peer pressure when encouraged to participate in any risk-taking behaviour," she said.
Professor Rosemary Aldrich of the Grampians Public Health Unit, part of Grampians Health, urged youngsters to avoid the habit altogether.
“The Grampians Public Health Unit strongly discourages the practice of vaping for individuals under 18," she said.
'Vaping products often contain nicotine and chemical compounds which are addictive and can harm brain development of young people.
"Vaping can act as an introduction to smoking, leading to young people becoming more likely to smoke tobacco cigarettes in the future."
Education Minister Ben Carroll said the new suite of reforms would help students to 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," Mr Carroll said.
“That’s why we’re equipping them 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 curriculum.”
VicHealth CEO Dr Sandro Demaio said the new resources would 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," Dr Demaio 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.”
Quit Victoria developed the program in partnership with Monash University, VicHealth, the Victorian Department of Education, Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, and the Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation Victoria.
For support to stop vaping or smoking, contact Quitline on 13 78 48 from 8am-8pm on Mondays to Fridays, or text "call back" to 0482 090 634.