Lack of knowledge by teachers on how to deal with type 1 diabetes puts children at risk

26/07/16

To help teachers understand and better identify early warning signs of hypoglycaemia (hypo), the award winning patient forum Diabetes.co.uk has developed and launched the first online hypo training programme for education professionals.

In addition to giving clear information on early warning signs and symptoms of hypoglycaemia along with coping mechanisms and strategies, the Teachers’ Hypo Awareness Programme www.hypoglycemia.co.uk provides teachers with the skills set to help children with type 1 diabetes overcome their fear and concern of experiencing a hypo.

A survey carried out by Diabetes.co.uk revealed that over a third of parents (37%) were not confident that their child’s teachers knew what to do in an emergency such as a hypoglycaemia episode and 31% were not happy with the school’s care plan for their child. Over half (51%) of children with type 1 diabetes were not confident about going to teaching staff with any diabetes-related problems and only 28% of parents felt that their child’s teachers had a good understanding of type 1 diabetes.

Comments from parents who took part in the survey not only illustrated their feeling of frustration at the lack of knowledge, but also showed how the reaction of some teachers can hinder not help children with type 1 diabetes.

“Teachers don’t have the time or resources to really deal with my son’s needs. I feel it’s an accident waiting to happen!”

“My child has been type 1 diabetic in his school for four years and only one teacher has ever bothered to ask information. They have lost his insulin and emergency snack box a number of times, they phone me for any little problem, and one teacher even told him to go away when he told her his sugar was low. Another teacher shouted at him because he had to do a blood reading saying he was holding up the class.”

“The teachers have no understanding of type 1 diabetes – one teacher actually explained to the class that it was due to liver problems.”

“One of the teachers was actually trying to give her insulin when she was having a hypo.”