The Global School Personnel Survey: a cross-country overview

Abstract

Teachers and administrators are role models for students, conveyors of tobacco prevention curricula, and key opinion leaders for school tobacco control policies. School teachers and administrators have daily interaction with students and thus represent an influential group for tobacco control. Data collected by the Global School Personnel Survey between 2000 and 2005 have shown that an alarming proportion of school personnel smoke cigarettes and use other forms of tobacco. At the regional level, current cigarette smoking is between 15% and 19% among school personnel included in this report around the world. The scarcity of tobacco-free schools and the high level of smoking on school grounds by school personnel reported in this study indicate how seriously school practice and staff actions undermine the educational messages and other prevention efforts to reduce adolescent smoking prevalence. However, the majority of school personnel in most sites strongly agreed that they should receive specific training to help students avoid or stop using tobacco.