Red Cross welcomes inclusion of First Aid and international humanitarian law into revised national c

Red Cross welcomes inclusion of First Aid and international humanitarian law into revised national curriculum

The British Red Cross welcomes yesterday’s announcement by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) to include International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and first aid in the revised school curriculum in England.

The decision follows a period of public consultation to which the British Red Cross made significant contributions. The revised curriculum specifically mentions IHL at key stage 4 and will introduce students to international conventions at key stage 3.

The PSHE wellbeing curriculum also includes provision for first aid education. At key stage 3, study will include a knowledge of basic first aid and recognising and reducing risk. It will also explain how students can minimise harm in emergency and risky situations. At key stage 4, students will need to learn how to use basic and emergency first aid.

The Red Cross has been campaigning on this since September last year when it launched it’s ‘Life. Live it.’ campaign. The charity asked the public to send a campaign postcard to their local elected representative urging them to support proposals for first aid in the curriculum.

Says Mairi Allan, head of schools and community education at the British Red Cross: “This will be an important contribution to secondary education in English schools. We believe that education for young people on health and citizenship is of fundamental importance to our society. Both IHL and first aid education will encourage young people to consider ways in which human suffering can be reduced.”

International humanitarian law are the rules governing war or armed conflict. The Red Cross schools and community education team has a range of free teaching resources, including assembly and lesson plans, to enable IHL issues to be explored by young people The Red Cross also provides summaries of relevant breaking news stories so that teachers can lead discussions in the classroom. British Red Cross online education resources can be viewed at www.redcross.org.uk/education

The Red Cross has also developed Raid Cross, a game which schools can run, allowing students to role-play an armed conflict situation in order to help them understand the humanitarian issues involved in conflict situations.

The British Red Cross has developed a first aid education kit for teachers to enable first aid training in schools. The kit includes an interactive CD ROM with step-by-step guidance and video clips of all the key techniques allowing teachers without any experience of first aid to deliver the subject. The Life. Live it. first aid education kit costs £120 and can be purchased by calling 0800 7311 663 or online at www.redcross.org.uk/shop

A free Life. Live it DVD has been produced to inspire young people to learn first aid, and downloadable first aid tips and videos, are also available from www.lifeliveit.org
ENDS

Notes to editors
§ Promoting international humanitarian law is one of the key missions of the Red Cross around the world. By including international humanitarian law in the secondary school curriculum, the UK government will be helping to fulfil its international obligations as a State Party to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977. These international instruments require States parties to encourage awareness and understanding of the principles of these treaties among the civilian population.
§ The Life. Live it. campaign aims to equip young people with first aid skills. Three million people go to hospital each year with injuries that could have been helped by first aid. One million of these are children. First aid skills can save lives and reduce injury.
* Based on Accident & Emergency department data, 2000-2002, RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents)

The British Red Cross helps people in crisis, whoever and wherever they are. We are part of a global voluntary network, responding to conflicts, natural disasters and individual emergencies.
We enable vulnerable people in the UK and abroad to prepare for and withstand emergencies
in their own communities. And when the crisis is over, we help them to recover and move on
with their lives.