How do peer projects work at schools?

Peer projects at schools involve young people as contact persons for fellow pupils when it comes to addiction prevention. Such a project works only with a clear framework: an adult specialist or teacher supervises the group, the peers are trained in advance, and the topics are fixed. Anyone planning a peer project therefore starts with the aims and only then decides who should take part.

What is a peer project?

Peer translates as someone of the same age or equal standing. In everyday school life, peers are pupils who talk with others from their surroundings about cannabis, alcohol or tobacco. The approach relies on young people listening to peers who speak at eye level. How well this works in your class can only be tested in practice, so a trial phase with a few appointments makes sense.

Which forms are there?

Peer projects take different forms. Which one suits depends on age, time and staffing. Three variants are conceivable:

• a project group that meets regularly over several months
• individual presentations or workshops in classes
• contact persons who are available during breaks or at school events

In our view, a project group needs more preparation, but it meets regularly. A single workshop is quicker to implement. As an example of a peer project, cannabispraevention.de names “InstaVention” (from grade 9), in which peers look after the project's own social media channel. The two can be combined, for example with a workshop at the start and a group that continues working afterwards. More on this is in the article Which workshops are available for school classes?

What must be clarified before starting?

Before pupils talk about use, the school needs a fixed framework. This includes a responsible teacher or school social work to support the project, coordination with the school management and a plan for how parents are informed. The peers should know which topics they cover and where their limits lie. Specific cases of use are handled by a teacher or a counselling service and kept out of the group.

Youth protection is part of the framework too. The Consumer Cannabis Act (KCanG) punishes passing cannabis on to children and young people. Anyone who gives or passes on cannabis to a child or young person commits an offence under section 34 KCanG. Where the person passing it on is over 21, passing it on to a child or young person counts as a standard example of a particularly serious case. The penalty range then runs from three months to five years' imprisonment. More on the penalties is in the article Who commits an offence by giving cannabis to minors? With this rule in mind, every group should establish that no one procures or passes on cannabis, or arranges contacts for doing so.

How are the peers prepared?

Peers need training before they speak with fellow pupils. This covers basic knowledge about cannabis and other substances, conversation technique and how to deal with questions they cannot answer. Training helps pupils stay factual and recognise when an adult needs to be brought in. They are not expected to become specialists.

A clear rule for crises is important. If a fellow pupil talks about panic, fear or thoughts of self-harm, this goes straight to an adult contact person. Peers give no diagnoses and no advice on medication. As a teacher, it is best to attend the training yourself. That way you know what the peers have learned and which messages they pass on.

Which content is reliable?

Good content comes from authorities and specialist services, and it does not come from rumours on the school yard. The young brain is in an important stage of development. The prevention portal cannabispraevention.de of the BIÖG names the risks of cannabis for young people as particularly high. This statement can be passed on easily without dramatising.

drugcom.de, likewise an offer of the BIÖG, also refutes the simple thesis of the gateway drug. There it says that in almost all cases tobacco smoking comes before the first cannabis use. That does not mean that early use is harmless: according to cannabispraevention.de, THC disrupts maturation processes in the brain. These points give peers a factual basis for conversations, even if they cannot answer every question. The background to the myth is explained in the article Is cannabis a gateway drug?

How can you tell whether the project works?

Whether a peer project has an effect in your school cannot be read from its name. So plan a simple evaluation. Ask who took part, which questions were asked and which topics remained open. A short survey at the end of a workshop is enough for this. The results help to adapt the project in the next school year, and they show whether the peers keep to their limits.

Where can you get support?

For planning, support is available outside the school. The Niedersächsische Landesstelle für Suchtfragen (NLS) names a contact person for addiction prevention on its website and refers to information brochures on cannabis for young people and parents, as well as info cards on the “Grünen Koffer”, a method set for cannabis prevention. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the Landesfachstelle Prävention is based at the Ginko Stiftung, which according to its website supports specialists in conversations with young people, for example with the MOVE offer. For questions about use and addiction, you can reach the Sucht & Drogen Hotline on 01806 313031.

How does the first appointment run?

The first appointment serves to get to know each other and to agree on rules together. At the start, clarify what may and may not be discussed. Set out how personal experiences are handled, because no one has to disclose their own experiences of use. Then let the group collect questions and sort them: which questions can the peers answer themselves, and which go to a teacher? This creates a list that changes over time and which you can revise together.

What you can do next

• Agree with the school management who supervises the project and which topics apply.
• Inform parents in advance so that no one is surprised.
• Plan training for the peers before they go into classes.
• Set a crisis rule and name who is brought in for serious cases.
• Check which school prevention offers already exist, and integrate the peer project there.

There is a separate article on dealing with incidents: How does a school proceed after an incident? Further guidance for those responsible is in the area Prevention and youth protection.