Tunnicliffe, Sue Dale

English

Tunnicliffe, SD

UCL Discovery

Volume 42 Number 1, Winter 2007 | JBE No time to teach life saving skills?Essential first aid within biology lessonsThere is no more logical place to learn how to cope with the traumas that can occur to the human anatomy than in science studies. This is the setting where our young people learn about the human body, so what better place to learn first aid? In addition to learning how the heart and lungs work, pu-pils can learn to perform cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. Understanding how that works and how it benefits a casu-alty not only reinforces their biological knowledge but also increases their ability to save life. People who receive CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) from first-aiders are two to three times as likely to survive a heart attack as those who do not (BRCS, 2006). Increasingly, the biology curriculum we deliver is coming under scrutiny and critics. We are urged to consider whether we teach for the test or teach meaningful cohesive biology. We are asked whether we have a moral duty to teach holistic biology and not snippets and contrived answers for exams (Tunnicliffe and Ueckert, 2007). David Slingsby wrote a pro-vocative article (Slingsby, 2006) in which he reflected that the philosophy of biology has not changed since Huxley’s day but that we need to move forward with a biology relevant to the 21st century. A new biology curriculum should, accord-ing to Rowland (2007) in response to Slingsby’s words, “grab young people’s interest and teach them things which will be useful to society… biological knowledge should help people make ethical life choices”.  What could be more fitting that first aid ‘the ultimate humanitarian act’?There is an inevitability that at some point everyone finds themselves involved in an event where first aid skills are needed. It is likely that the person affected will not be a stranger in the street but someone known to us. This is why first aid should be a basic life skill.Many people and organisations have been advocating that schoolchildren learn basic first aid (e.g. Tunnicliffe, 1986). In 2006 the British Red Cross launched their Life. Live it. cam-paign advocating just this. Activities included: the publication of a policy report outlining the case for first aid education in schools; meetings with ministers and officials; and galvanis-ing support from thousands who sent campaign postcards to their local elected representatives. In addition, a MORI poll was commissioned which revealed that 93% of people sup-port first aid being taught in UK schools1. Their efforts were rewarded when the new Personal Health & Social Education (PHSE) curriculum was announced in July 2007, which spe-cifically mentions first aid. Biology teachers and other science specialists who are inter-ested and concerned about first aid knowledge have taught aspects of first aid over the years through clubs and out-of-school activities. Some have already included basic first aid in teaching. The Life. Live it. initiative provides resources which enable all teachers to deliver such fundamental training with-out necessarily having done a first aid course first, although that would be desirable!However, this project has limited provision with potentially limited impact. Whilst other European countries have had first aid on the school curriculum for many years, including France, Denmark and Norway (many of whom have pro-grammes supported by the national Red Cross Societies) it is an optional, rather than core, part of learning in English and Welsh curricula.Therefore it is down to teachers to help build a generation of lifesavers. Basic first aid skills do not need to be taught by a qualified first aider. Biology teachers are perfectly positioned to impart this knowledge and what greater thing is there than to teach someone how to save a life? The British Red Cross have not campaigned to add more prescriptive content to a packed curriculum or to further in-crease teachers’ already vast workload. They have researched with teachers and acted on the findings. They have developed a resource which keeps lesson preparation to an absolute minimum for those wanting an off-the-shelf resource. It is also flexible, allowing teachers to tailor the resources to the needs of particular classes and topics. The interactive CD-Rom is designed to appeal to young people through a ‘funky’ design and themes relevant to their lives and experience. The research showed an anxiety amongst teachers about teaching the subject, so a dedicated support area is included. The resource is designed to be self-supporting so someone who has never even put on a plaster can teach first aid.There is a range of subjects across the curriculum within which first aid could be taught: however, the fit with biology is clear. The British Red Cross have suggested eight first aid essentials to produce young people confident and competent Sue Dale Tunnicliffe Institute of Education, London, UKEditorialEditorial | Tunnicliffe1 Ipsos Mori conducted face-to-face interviews with the interviews with the British public in respondents’ homes. 1960 adults (15 and over) were interviewed using CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing) between 28 July and 3 August 2006. The data were weighted to the current GB population profile.Tunnicliffe | EditorialJBE | Volume 42 Number 1, Winter 2007enough to administer basic first aid and save a life. These are designed to be part of a PSHE course but could be included in, for example, Science Week. The Life. Live it. first aid edu-cation kit is in fact based around these eight lesson units.These topics complement the biology in the statutory sci-ence national curriculum. They provide a context in which to set aspects of human biology. They also provide an oppor-tunity to provide an holistic view of the interaction of body systems: the integration of respiratory and circulatory systems while teaching CPR; or the skin and circulatory systems when studying burns. Moreover, there is an opportunity for hands-on work and reinforcement of theory (BRCS, 2004). CPR manikins are part of the Life. Live it. kits available from the British Red Cross. As biologists, we are in an ideal situation to teach these core first aid skills within the science curriculum. In helping pupils learn about various systems, the relevant first aid information can be inserted as a ‘story’ to enhance the theory in texts and other resources used to amplify the core curriculum. We must not overlook the fact that the national curriculum is the basic entitlement for a child’s learning.Surely we should grasp the opportunity to create a genera-tion of lifesavers? We biologists can make a difference to the lives of other people through our teaching in a number of areas. Life saving first aid is a critical one and one opportunity we should not miss. AcknowledgementI would like to thank Charlotte Hall and Jon Handcock of the First Aid Unit of British Red Cross Society for help in preparing this article.ReferencesBizzo N (2006) Science Education Saves Lives. IOSTE Newslet-ter. 9(2) 6-7BRCS ( 2004) Creating a Balance, FSC/BES BRCS  (2006) Life. Live it. The case for First Aid Education in UK Schools. British Red Cross Society, LondonDfES (2007) Citizenship at Key Stage 4 www.standards.dfes.goc.uk/schemes2/ks4citizenshipHandcock J (2007) Creating a generation of lifesavers. Learning for Life. Issue 9, June 2007; p3Rowlands G (2007) Towards a new biology curriculum. Journal of Biological Education. 41(3) 99-101Slingsby D (2006) Biology Education: has it gone anywhere since 1875? Biologist 53(6): 283-284Tunnicliffe S D (1986) Life Saving Science. Health at School Vol. 2 no 3 Tunnicliffe S D and Ueckert C (2007) Teaching biology: the great dilemma. Journal of Biological Education.  41(2): 51-52Sue Dale Tunnicliffe is a Researcher and Tutor for BEd Science at the Institute of Education, University of Lon-don, UK. Email: s.tunnicliffe@ioe.ac.uk Eight first aid essentials of the Life. Live it. programme1. Dealing with accidents Pupils should learn that, in an emergency, assessing danger and keeping yourself safe is fundamental. They should also learn how to call for the emergency services, and what information they will be asked for. 2. Unconsciousness and resuscitation Pupils should learn to check and clear the airway of an uncon-scious person, and how to put someone in the recovery position to prevent asphyxiation. Pupils should learn how to check someone’s breathing. They should learn the basics of cardiopulmonary resus-citation (CPR) as well as be able to deliver chest compressions and rescue breaths. 3. Choking Pupils should know how to check the severity of choking, and how and when to use back blows and abdominal thrusts (Heimlich ma-noeuvre). 4. Bleeding and shockPupils should understand the importance of compression, eleva-tion of the wound above the heart and bandaging. They should also be able to identify the symptoms of shock and know how best to respond. 5. Burns and scalds Pupils should learn to immediately cool burns with cold water, and what not to do (such as covering with woolly dressings). 6. Specific injuries Pupils should know the symptoms of a break or fracture of the bone, and understand how best to respond, including how to avoid further damage. Pupils should know how to treat a sprain or strain, including the importance of rest, and the cooling and elevation of the injury. 7. Specific illnessesPupils should explore how to react to particular scenarios, which could include heart attacks, diabetic control, asthma attacks, men-ingitis or epileptic seizures. 8. Emotional and social Pupils should explore how to react to stress in the event of an emergency or illness, and how best to offer emotional support. Pu-pils should explore the social dimension of helping others in need, humanitarianism and what responsibilities citizens have in society. They could also discuss and question personal prejudices, and what these can mean in a first aid context. Find out the first aid knowledge of your pupilsQuizzes with answers and the information about the campaign can be found at lifeliveit.org.  The DVD can also be ordered on-line. If you would like to give the quiz to your pupils we would be grateful for the response sheets with the age and gender of the respondents to be sent to: s.tunnicliffe@ioe.ac.uk.

No time to teach life saving skills?

Institute of Education EPrints

Volume 42 Number 1, Winter 2007 | JBE 
No time to teach life saving skills?
Essential first aid within biology lessons
There is no more logical place to learn how to cope with the 
traumas that can occur to the human anatomy than in science 
studies. This is the setting where our young people learn about 
the human body, so what better place to learn first aid? 
In addition to learning how the heart and lungs work, pu-
pils can learn to perform cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. 
Understanding how that works and how it benefits a casu-
alty not only reinforces their biological knowledge but also 
increases their ability to save life. People who receive CPR 
(cardiopulmonary resuscitation) from first-aiders are two to 
three times as likely to survive a heart attack as those who do 
not (BRCS, 2006). 
Increasingly, the biology curriculum we deliver is coming 
under scrutiny and critics. We are urged to consider whether 
we teach for the test or teach meaningful cohesive biology. 
We are asked whether we have a moral duty to teach holistic 
biology and not snippets and contrived answers for exams 
(Tunnicliffe and Ueckert, 2007). David Slingsby wrote a pro-
vocative article (Slingsby, 2006) in which he reflected that 
the philosophy of biology has not changed since Huxley’s day 
but that we need to move forward with a biology relevant to 
the 21st century. A new biology curriculum should, accord-
ing to Rowland (2007) in response to Slingsby’s words, “grab 
young people’s interest and teach them things which will be 
useful to society… biological knowledge should help people 
make ethical life choices”.  What could be more fitting that 
first aid ‘the ultimate humanitarian act’?
There is an inevitability that at some point everyone 
finds themselves involved in an event where first aid skills 
are needed. It is likely that the person affected will not be a 
stranger in the street but someone known to us. This is why 
first aid should be a basic life skill.
Many people and organisations have been advocating that 
schoolchildren learn basic first aid (e.g. Tunnicliffe, 1986). In 
2006 the British Red Cross launched their Life. Live it. cam-
paign advocating just this. Activities included: the publication 
of a policy report outlining the case for first aid education in 
schools; meetings with ministers and officials; and galvanis-
ing support from thousands who sent campaign postcards to 
their local elected representatives. In addition, a MORI poll 
was commissioned which revealed that 93% of people sup-
port first aid being taught in UK schools1. Their efforts were 
rewarded when the new Personal Health & Social Education 
(PHSE) curriculum was announced in July 2007, which spe-
cifically mentions first aid. 
Biology teachers and other science specialists who are inter-
ested and concerned about first aid knowledge have taught 
aspects of first aid over the years through clubs and out-of-
school activities. Some have already included basic first aid in 
teaching. The Life. Live it. initiative provides resources which 
enable all teachers to deliver such fundamental training with-
out necessarily having done a first aid course first, although 
that would be desirable!
However, this project has limited provision with potentially 
limited impact. Whilst other European countries have had 
first aid on the school curriculum for many years, including 
France, Denmark and Norway (many of whom have pro-
grammes supported by the national Red Cross Societies) it is 
an optional, rather than core, part of learning in English and 
Welsh curricula.
Therefore it is down to teachers to help build a generation 
of lifesavers. Basic first aid skills do not need to be taught by a 
qualified first aider. Biology teachers are perfectly positioned 
to impart this knowledge and what greater thing is there than 
to teach someone how to save a life? 
The British Red Cross have not campaigned to add more 
prescriptive content to a packed curriculum or to further in-
crease teachers’ already vast workload. They have researched 
with teachers and acted on the findings. They have developed 
a resource which keeps lesson preparation to an absolute 
minimum for those wanting an off-the-shelf resource. It is 
also flexible, allowing teachers to tailor the resources to the 
needs of particular classes and topics. 
The interactive CD-Rom is designed to appeal to young 
people through a ‘funky’ design and themes relevant to 
their lives and experience. The research showed an anxiety 
amongst teachers about teaching the subject, so a dedicated 
support area is included. The resource is designed to be self-
supporting so someone who has never even put on a plaster 
can teach first aid.
There is a range of subjects across the curriculum within 
which first aid could be taught: however, the fit with biology 
is clear. The British Red Cross have suggested eight first aid 
essentials to produce young people confident and competent 
Sue Dale Tunnicliffe 
Institute of Education, London, UK
Editorial
Editorial | Tunnicliffe
1 Ipsos Mori conducted face-to-face interviews with the interviews 
with the British public in respondents’ homes. 1960 adults (15 and 
over) were interviewed using CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal 
Interviewing) between 28 July and 3 August 2006. The data were 
weighted to the current GB population profile.
Tunnicliffe | Editorial
JBE | Volume 42 Number 1, Winter 2007
enough to administer basic first aid and save a life. These are 
designed to be part of a PSHE course but could be included 
in, for example, Science Week. The Life. Live it. first aid edu-
cation kit is in fact based around these eight lesson units.
These topics complement the biology in the statutory sci-
ence national curriculum. They provide a context in which 
to set aspects of human biology. They also provide an oppor-
tunity to provide an holistic view of the interaction of body 
systems: the integration of respiratory and circulatory systems 
while teaching CPR; or the skin and circulatory systems 
when studying burns. Moreover, there is an opportunity for 
hands-on work and reinforcement of theory (BRCS, 2004). 
CPR manikins are part of the Life. Live it. kits available from 
the British Red Cross. 
As biologists, we are in an ideal situation to teach these core 
first aid skills within the science curriculum. In helping pupils 
learn about various systems, the relevant first aid information 
can be inserted as a ‘story’ to enhance the theory in texts 
and other resources used to amplify the core curriculum. We 
must not overlook the fact that the national curriculum is the 
basic entitlement for a child’s learning.
Surely we should grasp the opportunity to create a genera-
tion of lifesavers? We biologists can make a difference to the 
lives of other people through our teaching in a number of 
areas. Life saving first aid is a critical one and one opportunity 
we should not miss. 
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank Charlotte Hall and Jon Handcock of 
the First Aid Unit of British Red Cross Society for help in 
preparing this article.
References
Bizzo N (2006) Science Education Saves Lives. IOSTE Newslet-
ter. 9(2) 6-7
BRCS ( 2004) Creating a Balance, FSC/BES 
BRCS  (2006) Life. Live it. The case for First Aid Education in 
UK Schools. British Red Cross Society, London
DfES (2007) Citizenship at Key Stage 4 www.standards.dfes.goc.
uk/schemes2/ks4citizenship
Handcock J (2007) Creating a generation of lifesavers. Learning 
for Life. Issue 9, June 2007; p3
Rowlands G (2007) Towards a new biology curriculum. Journal 
of Biological Education. 41(3) 99-101
Slingsby D (2006) Biology Education: has it gone anywhere since 
1875? Biologist 53(6): 283-284
Tunnicliffe S D (1986) Life Saving Science. Health at School Vol. 
2 no 3 
Tunnicliffe S D and Ueckert C (2007) Teaching biology: the great 
dilemma. Journal of Biological Education.  41(2): 51-52
Sue Dale Tunnicliffe is a Researcher and Tutor for BEd 
Science at the Institute of Education, University of Lon-
don, UK. Email: s.tunnicliffe@ioe.ac.uk 
Eight first aid essentials of the Life. Live it. programme
1. Dealing with accidents 
Pupils should learn that, in an emergency, assessing danger and 
keeping yourself safe is fundamental. They should also learn how 
to call for the emergency services, and what information they will 
be asked for. 
2. Unconsciousness and resuscitation 
Pupils should learn to check and clear the airway of an uncon-
scious person, and how to put someone in the recovery position to 
prevent asphyxiation. Pupils should learn how to check someone’s 
breathing. They should learn the basics of cardiopulmonary resus-
citation (CPR) as well as be able to deliver chest compressions and 
rescue breaths. 
3. Choking 
Pupils should know how to check the severity of choking, and how 
and when to use back blows and abdominal thrusts (Heimlich ma-
noeuvre). 
4. Bleeding and shock
Pupils should understand the importance of compression, eleva-
tion of the wound above the heart and bandaging. They should also 
be able to identify the symptoms of shock and know how best to 
respond. 
5. Burns and scalds 
Pupils should learn to immediately cool burns with cold water, and 
what not to do (such as covering with woolly dressings). 
6. Specific injuries 
Pupils should know the symptoms of a break or fracture of the 
bone, and understand how best to respond, including how to avoid 
further damage. Pupils should know how to treat a sprain or strain, 
including the importance of rest, and the cooling and elevation of 
the injury. 
7. Specific illnesses
Pupils should explore how to react to particular scenarios, which 
could include heart attacks, diabetic control, asthma attacks, men-
ingitis or epileptic seizures. 
8. Emotional and social 
Pupils should explore how to react to stress in the event of an 
emergency or illness, and how best to offer emotional support. Pu-
pils should explore the social dimension of helping others in need, 
humanitarianism and what responsibilities citizens have in society. 
They could also discuss and question personal prejudices, and what 
these can mean in a first aid context. 
Find out the first aid knowledge of your pupils
Quizzes with answers and the information about the campaign 
can be found at lifeliveit.org.  The DVD can also be ordered on-
line. If you would like to give the quiz to your pupils we would 
be grateful for the response sheets with the age and gender of the 
respondents to be sent to: s.tunnicliffe@ioe.ac.uk.


Science Education Saves Lives.

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No time to teach life saving skills?

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