Here at Ajuda we think that introducing first aid lessons to the school curriculum is a fantastic idea.
Across the UK there are 8.4 million pupils enrolled in schools – this makes up 10% of the population! Currently, there is no obligation to teach students first aid skills within British schools. We believe that everybody should have the opportunity to learn how to save a life.
In 2015, The British Red Cross* stated that 91% of students would like to have the opportunity to learn life-saving skills in first aid training.
There are countless stories in the news every year about children becoming life-savers. Often, children find themselves alone with a parent who goes into cardiac arrest, a friend who has a fall, a grandparent who becomes unconscious, and many more scary scenarios. In these instances, children are expected to make important life-changing decisions.
With training from a young age for all children, these situations may seem more manageable and there will be even more success stories in the news about young people administering emergency first aid and saving someone’s life. Teaching children these skills can only be time and resources well spent. Young people will feel empowered and more confident in their ability to help someone in an emergency.
According to The Statement on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, Automated External Defibrillators and Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest** from the Welsh Government at the end of last year, the Welsh Government is fully supportive of helping young people to acquire life-saving skills and how to administer first aid in an emergency.
At the moment, all young learners in Wales are only able to learn about emergency first aid procedures through Personal and Social Education (PSE) which is part of the basic curriculum for all registered pupils. However, first aid is not a mandatory module in PSE. Whilst the basis of the subject is to give learners a balances programme that teaches them practical life-skills, unfortunately, including first aid is optional. Many, many children go without learning these basic skills during their PSE lessons.
Looking to the future, the Cabinet Secretary for Education, has accepted the recommendation of the ‘Successful Futures’ report written by Prof. Graham Donaldson. In this report, Prof. Donaldson identifies 6 Areas of Learning and Experience that are central to the new curriculum, one of these is Health and Wellbeing. He states that the curriculum should support children and young people to become health, confident individuals.
What happens now?
It’s time that the government commit to making first aid a compulsory part of the curriculum. In February of this year, Assembly Members such as, Suzy Davies, backed proposals to ensure that all children get trained in life-saving skills as part of their school education. They also addressed the need for making first aid equipment and defibrillators available in as many public spaces as possible.
Over the years, Ajuda has been approached by many schools who have used their own initiative to organise first aid training for pupils. Ajuda have taught many students first aid skills such as, CPR, the use of defibrillators and bleeding. We have also done a lot of training for pupils taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh Scheme.
We offer competitive prices for first aid training in schools. For more information, please do not hesitate to contact us on 029 2057 6883 or admin@ ajuda.org.uk
*http://www.redcross.org.uk/About-us/News/2017/March/Red-Cross-first-aid-government-PSHE
**http://gov.wales/about/cabinet/cabinetstatements/2016-new/ouofhospitalcardiacarrest/?lang=en