Peer Pressure Workshop [Saying ‘No!’]
No matter how confident or independent a young person is, they will experience peer pressure at some point during their development, particularly as they approach secondary school age and beyond.
Part of healthy growing up involves reducing dependence on caregivers and making choices about which peer relationships we want to nurture and those we want to move away from.
Our Peer Pressure Workshops aims to help young people to understand and recognise the effects of peer pressure and to develop the skills to resist temptation. Teachers and parents should never underestimate the lure of acceptance and popularity in the evolving social world of older children and teenagers.
Peer pressure is not always a negative thing, but it is a powerful force and can lead to children behaving in ways they would never dream of when alone or with family members.
2020 Dreams Peer Pressure workshops help young people to understand the effects of peer pressure, to recognise when peer pressure is pushing them towards making bad choices and to develop the skills to resist temptation while maintaining dignity and self-respect.
2020 Dreams Peer Pressure workshops are run by seasoned facilitators with a proven ability to engage with children of all ages. Workshops will be carefully tailored to be appropriate to the age group of the young people attending and can be customised to focus on areas of particular concern in the local community.
Key Statistics*
- In 2019, 76% of interviewed schoolchildren (aged 11-15) thought that young people drank alcohol mainly to ‘look cool.’
- 27% of pupils admitted to having had smoked while 18% said they had taken drugs.
*From The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) and the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER): London, 2019.
The Role of Peer Pressure Workshops in the National Curriculum
Peer pressure workshops are ideally suited to the Citizenship element of the National Curriculum, as knowing when to say, ‘No!’ is a key skill young people need to master to “take their place in society as responsible citizens,” – a key outcome for Citizenship education.
Peer pressure sometimes acts against society. It is often a major factor in criminal behaviour (e.g. shoplifting, vandalism and public disorder) and it can also lead to problems with drugs and alcohol which have a negative impact on the community.
Another way in which peer pressure can lead to devastating consequences is when teenagers feel pressurised to drive at excessive speeds or while under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
Direct and Indirect Peer Pressure
2020 Dreams Peer Pressure workshops use role-play exercises to explore different forms of peer pressure in a supportive and fun environment. For example, students will be given examples of direct peer pressure, where a peer uses put-downs, threats or reassurance to affect behaviour and also examples of indirect peer pressure, the force exerted by certain types of body language and facial expressions.
Another form of indirect or unspoken peer pressure is the drive to be similar to other young people by wearing similar clothes to them, buying the same brand of mobile phone or adopting a similar attitude.
By the end of a 2020 Dreams Peer Pressure workshop, the young people involved will have broadened their ideas about what peer pressure is and learn powerful skills for resisting its influence.
The Power of Communication
Making wise decisions while under the influence of peer pressure is all about effective communication. There are many different ways of saying, No!’ and the best examples will leave the young person with their dignity intact. The more successful children and teenagers have in resisting unwanted peer pressure, the more confident and sure of their own identity they will become.
2020 Dreams Peer Pressure workshops support role-play activities with open forum discussions and provide time for questions and answers. This gives young people the chance to express their feelings about peer pressure, to talk about their personal experiences and to become comfortable with the skills they have been practising.
