Red Cross Blogs

First aid belongs in the classroom

By Mark Cox
June 7, 2011 at 12:51 pm

Today, the Labour MP Julie Hilling is leading a debate at Westminster in which she will call for first aid to be included in the school curriculum. This is particularly welcome news at the British Red Cross, since we’ve been calling for precisely the same thing for years now. And not without good reason, either.

In many respects, the first aid scenario in the UK is pretty bleak. We are not among the 19 per cent of European countries to have already embraced compulsory first aid education in schools. Every year, 150,000 people die in situations in which first aid could have made a difference. Just seven per cent of the UK population feel they would have the skills to help someone in an emergency.

As Ms Hilling has recognised, schools can provide an ideal forum for learning life-saving skills. And that’s why we have been helping teachers to bring first aid to UK classrooms for the past four years.

Our first aid education kit for 11 to 16-year-olds, launched in 2007, is now used by 13 per cent of secondary schools. And following research which clearly showed that children as young as five could learn practical skills, we have even launched a new teaching package for primary schools.

However, Joe Mulligan, head of first aid education at the Red Cross, is far from complacent. He says: “In total, our first aid and humanitarian education programmes reached 347,000 children and young people last year. But there’s still so much more to be done.”

Today’s debate will highlight a very important point: that education isn’t – and shouldn’t be – just about reading, writing and learning by rote the names of historical figures. At its core, education is also about learning practical, useful skills that will serve a greater purpose in society.

And, frankly, what could be more practical than learning how to save someone’s life?

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