The Halo Effect

Teachers and safeguarding professionals are having to tackle an epidemic in the use of vapes by school children

Giving evidence this May to parliament’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill Committee, Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of teachers’ union the NASUWT noted that 75% of teachers had reporting vaping had increased in their schools in the past year.

The union also found that that 85% of teachers report that vaping is an issue either in school or on school premises.

In addition, research published in August by the Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) campaign revealed that nearly on in five (18%) of all children aged 11-17 had tried vaping. That’s some 980,000 school kids.

Of those, 230,000 were found to be vaping more than once a week.

These figures raise a number of concerns. Prime among them is, of course, children’s health. The Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC) is understandably decisive, saying “children should never vape.” Nonetheless, the department reports that the number of children vaping has tripled in the past three years.

NASUWT’s Roach commented that “Teachers are reporting the very damaging impact vaping can have on a child’s mental and physical development.”

The use of and even addiction to vapes can also be highly disruptive, with children seeking to escape the classroom for a sneaky puff.

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