Despite the UK’s rainy climate, this happens to one in six risk skin cancer. Children, specifically, needs to be especially careful as they’re more likely to suffer from severe sunburn than in younger years doubles risk of later developing skin cancer.
But recent research my colleagues and I carried out research which found that lower than half of primary schools in Wales have a proper sun safety policy.
Due to the continuous increase in skin cancer rates 8% per 12 months in England and Wales it’s an issue that is not going to go away, and the disease currently accounts for half of all cancers. In 2020 alone, the cost of skin cancer treatment in England was: estimated exceed £180 million.
There is hope, nevertheless. It is estimated that approx 90% of skin cancers are attributable to exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation. This means they will be prevented through safer behavior.
However, there are still many individuals in the UK downplay link between sunburn and skin cancer. Research paints a disturbing picture, revealing differences in sun protection awareness and behavior amongst different groups. Especially, menpeople living in low-income neighborhoodsbelonging to lower socio-economic groups AND people of color They are sometimes found to be less informed about solar safety and more likely to put themselves in danger.
Because childhood is a key time for learning healthy behaviors, teaching all children from an early age about sun protection could also be a technique to reduce future rates of skin cancer. AND World Health ORganisation recommends formal school programs as the key to prevention.
Overall, there have been school interventions shown positively influence knowledge and behavior regarding solar safety. For example, schools in Australia with a written policy reveal higher sun protection practices than those without one.
However, the situation in UK schools varies. issued by the British Government’s Department of Education statutory guidelines for England that children should leave primary school knowing about sun safety and the way to reduce the risk of skin cancer.
In Scotland and Northern Ireland, teaching about sun safety in schools shouldn’t be a legal requirement. In Wales, although sun protection is really helpful under the Healthy Schools Wales Network scheme, there may be again no mandatory requirement to have a sun safety policy or teach skin cancer prevention. There are also no central UK resources to help schools on this area.
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My colleagues and I wanted to understand how many schools had a sun safety policy – a proper document that outlines the school’s position on educating and ensuring sun safety. We also wanted to understand whether the existence of the policy varied by area or school characteristics and what support schools needed.
In 2022 we sent a survey to all 1,241 primary schools in Wales. A complete of 471 schools responded.
What we found
We found that only 39% of responding schools had a proper sun safety policy. And of them, not all of them enforced them. Schools where more children were on free school meals and had lower attendance rates were less likely to have sun protection policies.
We asked schools that shouldn’t have such a policy to provide the reason why they shouldn’t have such a policy. Thirty-five percent of schools were “not aware of the need”, while 27% of schools “had not yet addressed it”. Thirty schools (13%) said that solar safety policies aren’t currently a priority. It is evident that much stays to be done to raise awareness of schools and their principals about the role they’ll play on this area.
Of course, schools are busy places. So, when asked what would encourage them to create a sun safety policy, 73% of schools responded to development assistance and 56% said that they had resources to help teach about sun safety.
Previously, each the Cancer Research UK charity and the Wales-based charity Tenovus Cancer Care offered support and guidance to schools, but this support isn’t any longer available. A charity based in England Skin has a comprehensive and free accreditation program for sun-secure schools. Some schools told us they based their policies on resources provided by local authorities, but this was not consistent across Wales.
UV levels are about to rise in the UK and it is time for schools to start desirous about sun protection. Having a proper school policy on solar safety determines the school’s position on solar safety. If that is enforced and communicated properly, it becomes clear to everyone (principals, teachers, carers and students) their individual responsibilities to stay secure.
However, as lower than half of schools in Wales have formal policies and never all are enforced, there may be a scarcity of awareness of the importance of this issue and the potential role of schools.
It is due to this fact time for sun safety rules to turn into compulsory in primary schools across the UK. This can assist improve the knowledge and behavior of all age groups. However, schools need to be supplied with appropriate support and guidance to help them educate children about sun safety and protection while at college.
