Pubdate: Fri, 14 Feb 2005 Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) Copyright: 2005 The Sydney Morning Herald Contact: http://www.smh.com.au/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/441 Author: Kelley Burke, Education Reporter Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) SCHOOL DRUG TESTS A FAILURE: CATHOLIC REPORT Inflexible and harsh policies on illegal drugs in private schools are just shallow marketing ploys, new national research claims. Schools adopting rigid policies, such as random drug testing, put their reputation above students' needs and force drug use underground, the national report on drug use and policies in Catholic schools warns. The Ignatius Centre, the policy and research arm of Jesuit Social Services, will release the report today. A $20,000 Federal Government grant assisted the research. But in contrast with the federal Education Minister, Brendan Nelson, who yesterday signalled in-principle support for random drug testing in state schools, Keeping Them Connected is scathing of drug testing, describing it as nothing more than a "marketing instrument" in the few Catholic schools using them. Dr Nelson told Channel Ten yesterday random drug testing of high school students was a "positive initiative" and "plain common sense", if done in consultation with parents and students as part of a zero tolerance approach. But the report says zero tolerance schools are "more concerned with the protection of their own reputation and less concerned with the interests of the student body". And drug use did not seem to diminish in those schools, but was more hidden, the report said. The threat of expulsion or transfer meant a school became "a no-go zone for seeking help or guidance in this area". The report's author, the policy director at Jesuit Social Services, Peter Norden, said many Catholic schools had embraced a more honest, caring and less confrontational approach to drug use, but a minority still used an ineffective and solely disciplinary approach. "Adolescents learn by making mistakes and a punitive response doesn't actually lead to change, but alienation and disconnection," said Father Norden. About 600,000 children across Australia attend the 1700 Catholic systemic schools, which Catholic education offices control. But the report found Catholic independent schools - usually those in competitive markets - were more likely to have compulsory expulsion or transfer policies for illicit drug use. Moreover, most students surveyed in such schools said illicit drug use was a "taboo topic" with their parents. Lorraine Walker, the co-ordinator of student welfare programs for the NSW Catholic Education Commission, said its schools saw no place for illicit drugs. But the report showed a flexible, harm-minimisation approach grounded in pastoral care was more effective. The commission's director of policy and programs, Ian Baker, said most students were drug free, and Catholic schools, like state schools, suspended drug users. But principals needed more discretion within the "mandatory sentencing" parameters, he said, particularly after distinguishing between one-off experimental and habitual users. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth