Let's Talk About It...

There’s never a good time to get cancer, but for a teenager the timing seems particularly cruel. Young people can get some of the most rare and aggressive forms of cancer. The emotional upheaval of adolescence can make a cancer diagnosis even harder to cope with. 

Teenage Cancer Trust, a national charity which helps young people in the UK fight cancer, has developed a unique learning resource aimed at secondary schools, to encourage pupils to talk about cancer and how it may affect them or those close to them.

This free education resource is the first of its kind to hit secondary schools and intends to raise awareness of cancer in young people, encourage prevention and promote healthy living. Every day six young people from across the UK between the ages of 13 and 24 are diagnosed with cancer so these new materials come at a vital time.

Set-up as an interactive teenage magazine and available to download from Teenage Cancer Trust’s website, ‘TCT Stuff’ has been edited by teenagers and uses interactive film and includes commentary by TV presenter and DJ, Dave Berry. Issues covered include how to cope with bullying, facts and fiction about cancer, plus who to talk to if they are concerned about their health or a friend’s health.

TCT Stuff’ is part of TCT’s ‘Lets Talk About It’ campaign which has been designed to be used in conjunction with both the new Personal Learning and Thinking Skills Criteria and English Language requirements and can be used on school interactive whiteboards and via PC’s and Mac’s.

Nigel Revell, TCT Director of Education, said: “Six young people are diagnosed with cancer every day, that’s over 2,000 each year, so cancer isn’t something that should be ignored in schools. Teenage Cancer Trust has created the ‘Let’s Talk About It’ campaign to help teachers raise important issues with their pupils in an
engaging and stimulating way. It has also been created as something that can be incorporated into the curriculum. By educating young people and their teachers about cancer, we can remove the stigma often associated with the illness and by encouraging them to talk about cancer, we are giving young people the knowledge and understanding needed to better cope should they ever be diagnosed themselves or want to support one of their peers.”

“The film clip of the teenage boy with cancer has a powerful impact on students ...”

Jackie Manning, a teacher from Liverpool Community College, comments about the newly launched resource: “At last cancer awareness is being brought to the classroom in the form of a modern and revolutionary e-magazine, a learning tool that teenagers can truly engage with, written in their language and tackling a range of current issues as well as teenage cancer itself. Teenagers typically find talking about feelings challenging and this resource confronts this head on to develop students’ confidence in talking about sensitive matters in a fresh and stimulating way. The film clip of the teenage boy with cancer has a powerful impact on students and
brings the reality of the message to life. The complete resource opens up new opportunities to teachers for innovation in the classroom covering cross-curricula subjects at key stage 3 and  and beyond into further education.”