Current status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 19 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce information on the dangers of methanol poisoning to the school curriculum.
We are committed to ensuring that children and young people have the opportunity to learn about substance use and its impact on life choices and health. Curriculum for Excellence already provides the opportunity to explore the risks associated with a variety of substances including alcohol, medicines, drugs, tobacco and solvents. We recognise that education alone will not resolve the harmful abuse of substances, but it is an important strand within a broad range of measures across communities that are designed to tackle this issue.
There are no plans to introduce information on the dangers of methanol poisoning to the school curriculum. We do not take a prescriptive approach to the curriculum in Scotland and it is up to individual schools and local authorities to design approaches to help them deliver relevant and engaging learning.
Following the announcement in December 2023, Education Scotland has been leading on development and delivery of the new Curriculum Improvement Cycle (CIC). This represents a planned and systemic approach to strengthening the curriculum to ensure it remains forward looking, and supports more consistent teaching and learning experiences and improved attainment and achievement of our children and young people. The CIC, which covers all curricular areas including Health and Wellbeing (HWB), is considering all curricular areas and key aspects – including the subject area of HWB, where work is already underway, drawing on robust interrogation of evidence and a co-design process with practitioners and wider stakeholders.