- Two-thirds of teachers in a survey by Schoolzone, commissioned by the British Heart Foundation, said a lack of trained staff was a barrier to teaching cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and a third said lack of equipment was an issue
- British Heart Foundation (BHF) is urging teachers to sign up to Classroom RevivR, a free CPR teaching tool funded thanks to employee fundraising from charity partner, Royal Mail, that has been used to teach more than 61,000 students, requires no prior teacher training and no specialist equipment
- The charity is offering the chance for a teacher to win 30 free tablets for their school and a £100 Amazon voucher if they register for the tool – in a bid to help save more lives from out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.
More than one in five secondary school teachers (22%) said their school was not teaching the lifesaving skill of CPR to students even though it is mandatory on the national curriculum, according to responses in a new survey commissioned by the BHF.1
The survey conducted by Schoolzone of more than 500 secondary school teachers from around the UK found that more than a third (35%) of teachers identified it as a priority subject to teach.
However, many felt they faced barriers including a lack of staff training (61%), time pressures (54%) and a lack of equipment or budget to buy equipment (32%/31%).
CPR is a mandatory requirement on the national curriculum for secondary schools in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland but the survey suggested that one in five (20%) of teachers did not know this.
Around half of schools who responded (49%) currently teach CPR use external trainers. Others use resources including videos and manikins. Many teachers cited challenges with their current resources with around one in five (27%) giving them a medium or low score for effectiveness and engagement.
More than a third of teachers (36%) said they didn’t feel confident teaching CPR and some said that even though they had training they would need a refresher session to feel confident.
However, the BHF, which offers free training through its Classroom RevivR tool which has been funded thanks to employee fundraising from its charity partner, Royal Mail, says it is misconception that teachers need external trainers or equipment like manikins to effectively teach CPR.
Classroom RevivR delivers training online via a digital device such as a mobile phone or tablet and the only other equipment needed is something to practice compressions on like a cushion, backpack or rolled up jumper.
Teachers are able to access a portal with supportive resources, a teacher guide, a PSHE Quality Mark lesson plan and certificates for students. They can use the tool as many times as they want to refresh their own skills or their students’ skills.
The programme, which launched in 2023, teaches students how to recognise a cardiac arrest, gives real-time feedback on chest compressions and outlines how to use a defibrillator, giving anyone the confidence to step in and save a life in the event of the ultimate medical emergency.
More than 61,000 students at more than 1,100 schools across the UK have used the programme to learn lifesaving CPR. Thousands more schools are registered and delivering training.
Students who used Classroom RevivR said their confidence in CPR had significantly increased following the training.2
Estelle Stephenson, Head of Health Partnerships and Community Resuscitation says:
“Every year in the UK, over 30,000 people have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest 3 and every minute without CPR and defibrillation reduces the chance of survival by up to ten per cent.
“Schools play a vital role in helping us to improve survival rates by ensuring teachers feel confident in teaching CPR to the next generation of lifesavers.
“We know teachers want to teach CPR but they are time-pressed and have limited budgets. There are also misconceptions that to teach effective CPR there needs to be external training or expensive equipment and this isn’t the case and something we overcome with Classroom RevivR.
“We are urging all teachers to sign up to our free Classroom RevivR training so that every child leaves school knowing how to save a life.”
The BHF survey also revealed that nearly two-thirds of teachers (60%) said they were open to trying a digital training programme like Classroom RevivR and more than two-thirds (70%) felt they already had the technology to deliver the training.
BHF is offering a teacher the chance to win 30 tablets for their school and a £100 Amazon voucher if they sign up to Classroom RevivR by the end of this month [31 January 2025.]
Clapton Girls Academy in Hackney started using Classroom RevivR to train their Health and Social Care students aged 14 to 18 in October 2023.
Emma Leenders, Social Science Faculty Lead at the school said:
“Classroom RevivR was a gamechanger for us. We know how vital it is that our students are taught lifesaving skills so they can feel empowered and confident if faced with an emergency but, like all schools, we need to be mindful of the schools’ budget and teachers’ time.
“Classroom RevivR ticked all the boxes for us – it’s PHSE-accredited, meets curriculum standards, and was taught in one easy lesson plan so it minimised teachers’ workload. It doesn’t require external specialist training or equipment and most importantly it gets results.
“We’ve successfully taught CPR to 120 students. They have told us it has made them feel more confident in what to do if faced with an emergency situation and we have seen this confidence in action. When group of our students witnessed a passer-by collapse on their way to school they stepped in to assess and help. We’d highly recommend schools sign up for the tool to help educate the next generation of lifesavers.”
To find out more about Classroom RevivR and be in with a chance of winning 30 tablets for your school, visit bhf.org.uk/classroomrevivr
