Schools receive Government guidance on ’emerging trend’ of vaping

Schools have been issued with new guidance on how to deal with vaping, with Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth saying it is an “emerging trend” among some of Scotland’s children.

With the Scottish Government noting that “vaping is now more common than cigarette smoking”, the guidance said schools should set out “clear expectations around substance use for all children and young people” which cover illegal and age-restricted substances, such as vapes.

Some S6 pupils may be legally old enough to buy such products, but the Government document states: “These substances remain inappropriate within school.”

The guidance comes as ministers insisted “progress has been made” across all areas of an action plan designed to improve behaviour in the country’s schools.

The Government progress report said work is under way “against all 20 actions within the plan”, with “significant focus” on providing “robust” guidance to schools and councils.

It added that “emerging issues” highlighted in the 2023 Behaviour in Scottish Schools report of mobile phone use, vaping, children in school but not in class, and misogyny, had “all been responded to by means of new national guidance”.

Ms Gilruth said: “Vaping has also been identified as an emerging trend among some young people at school, so the new guidance on substance use will allow local authorities and head teachers to develop or update local policies to deal with this.

“Taken together, this newly-published package of guidance addresses all the emerging patterns of behaviour identified in our Behaviour in Scottish Schools research.

“The action we are taking will help ensure that teachers and schools can deal with issues in ways that are appropriate and also respond to the needs of each individual child.”

But Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Willie Rennie said: “Vaping has been rife in schools for ages so why has the government taken so long to wake up?

“Like so much, the SNP are slow-footed and fail to grasp the scale of the problems in schools.”

He added: “Scottish Liberal Democrats say it must be a health priority to reduce the attractiveness of vaping to children.

“Bright colours, sweet flavours and eye-catching designs show this industry is targeting children and young people. Schools should not be a place where their use is tolerated.”

Meanwhile, leaders of the NASUWT teaching union said it still receives “regular reports from teachers across Scotland about incidents of serious violence and abuse in schools”.

General secretary Matt Wrack welcomed the new publications from the Government, but added: “It is clear that too many schools are failing to put into practice the measures set out in the plan and that teachers are continuing to be left vulnerable to verbal and physical attacks from pupils, as well as lower level disruption which affects their ability to teach and of pupils to learn.”

He said there needs to be “stronger mechanisms” along with “consistency of practice across the country when it comes to setting expectations for behaviour in schools and in sanctions for violent and disruptive behaviour”.

Mr Wrack said: “Only then are we likely to see a decisive shift in reducing levels of abuse in our schools.”

NASUWT Scotland official Mike Corbett said: “The provision of guidance for schools on how to address substance abuse among pupils is welcome.

“It is an issue that affects every school and teachers and leaders need clear guidelines on where their responsibilities lie.

“However, the challenge on behaviour remains in translating what is on the page into action in the classroom.

“School staff have not been offered any additional time, resources or funding to implement the behaviour guidance published to date and there is insufficient oversight of what is happening across schools and local authorities in terms of how and to what extent the guidance is being used.

“We need to see more focused and concerted measures taken by government and local authorities to put words into action.”