THE PURPOSE AND BASIC PRINCIPLES OF UPbringing in abstinence and sobriety
An irreplaceable way to gradually eliminate drunkenness and alcoholism is to make school pupils aware of the alcohol problem, shaping their conscious attitude to the use of alcoholic beverages and strengthening the attitude of sobriety.
A practical conclusion has been drawn from such an assessment in many countries, providing schools with assistance in the form of appropriate information, program and methodological studies. They make it easier for teachers to use didactic and educational factors to shape students' intended attitude towards alcohol. The nature of these types of studies is very different, from official programs to manuals that leave teachers completely free to use them.
In this regard, with some simplification, the following dividing line can be drawn:
a. the issue of anti-alcohol teaching and upbringing of students is treated separately from the general problem of combating drunkenness and alcoholism, which is reflected in special studies intended for teachers (including in Sweden, United States, Bulgaria);
b. the educational impact on minors is exercised as part of general alcohol prevention, therefore, publications on children and youth fall within the scope of general anti-alcohol literature and do not take into account the specificity of school education. This situation is more common than the previous one, also takes place in our country.
Nobody in Poland questions it, that a very important role in the field of alcohol prevention can and should be played by the didactic and educational work of schools aimed at consolidating the life attitude of sobriety in students. This correct assumption has not yet found expression in a proper publishing position.
Help book for teachers “Abstinence, sobriety, educational prevention” is a program and methodological proposal for school awareness-raising and educational work in the field of alcoholism.
The school may include in pedagogical practice the topic against alcohol in a much broader scope than it is established in the curriculum. The best intentions in this direction are not matched by the ability to act. This has been pointed out many times by the opinion of many experienced teachers.
It is known, that in the process of school education, among many factors, the activity of teachers aware of the goal plays a fundamental role, content, methods and organizational forms of educational work, and not only in a general sense, but also for specific tasks.
We are talking about the specific task of raising students in sobriety, presents the objective of this task in the most comprehensive way possible on the basis of a specific position, informs about the content of the problem, proposes methodical and organizational forms of didactic and educational activities leading to the assumed goal.
News in the field of these fields of knowledge, for which the teacher has no special preparation, are given in popular science form. Many topics could be treated with great brevity in the textbook, assuming, that the teacher will find a supplement in the knowledge he has in the field of chemistry, biology, hygiene, psychology, sociology, and above all, pedagogy.
The book is in the nature of a guide. Assumes, and should assume, that the experience and initiative of teachers will develop the directions proposed in it in pedagogical practice, forms and methods of work, taking into account the diverse characteristics of the student's personality, different stages of its development, various environmental situations.
At the stage of the first attempt to publish this type of guidebook, it was decided to make it general in nature without taking into account the different types of schools.
Precise linking of material and information material with individual examples of forms of didactic and educational work was impossible for practical reasons, it would require multiple repetitions of the subject matter of the problem, which is not allowed by methodological considerations, nor the intended sizes of the book. Connections needed in specific situations should not be a problem, yes, due to the general correlation between the material and the educational aspects of the problem preserved in the textbook, as well as appropriate references for individual didactic and educational tasks.
The co-authors of the handbook represent specialist education and practice in the field of issues they have developed. The common ground for various specialties is the belief in the role of educational factors in consolidating the desired human attitude towards the problem of drinking alcohol.
The authors undertook a difficult work - in a way pioneering both in the field of Polish anti-alcohol studies, and pedagogical - in conviction, that there is a need for such a study among teachers, that the book, despite its imperfections, will help to disseminate and raise to a higher level the forms and methods of educating students in sobriety.
The book is intended for teachers, however, it can also help educators during extracurricular activities with children and youth and activists of the social anti-alcohol committee.