A new e-learning alcohol awareness programme “Smashed Online” has been launched by Diageo and Collingwood Learning, which is being made available to over one million students aged 12-14 across 5,500 schools in the UK for free to equip students with facts regarding the dangers of underage drinking, helping to break the culture of underage drinking. Diageo has been the sponsor of Smashed, alcohol awareness programme for young people - ran independently by Collingwood Learning -since its inception in 2005. The programme is designed to engage with pupils (12-16 years old) through dramatic theatrical lessons and interactive activities, to help them understand the facts, causes, and consequences of alcohol misuse and the risks of underage drinking. The hope is that students would be equipped to deal with peer pressure and to make informed choices.
The programme is based on a hard-hitting live theatre performance delivered by a team of actors deliver the hour-long performance which follows a group of friends who get in trouble after misusing alcohol. The performance is followed by an interactive workshop where pupils are invited to probe the cast on any of the issues brought up during the play and explore the consequences portrayed by the actors.
The online version of the programme builds on the live theatre tour and offers creative and memorable sessions which have been developed in consultation with young people. Teachers and students who have already completed the course have described it as ‘fantastic’ and a ‘worthwhile experience’!
In England and Northern Ireland, the programme has been endorsed by the government and forms a key part of schools Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) curriculum. Smashed has reached 415,000 students in 2,115 schools across the UK since it began in 2005. The programme has always been positively measured and evaluated. The last results in 2019 showed 95% of pupils said they understood more about the dangers of underage drinking than they did before the workshop.
Pupils who knew the legal age for buying alcohol in their country increased from 78% to 94% and 86% of pupils demonstrated confidence in where to get help with alcohol-related issues after the programme (an increase of 33%). Importantly,15% said they learnt to challenge peer pressure.
Based on such positive evaluation, the Smashed programme is now delivered across six continents and 23 countries. with the ambition to reach five million people around the world by 2025. The launch of Smashed online further supports this ambition!
