One in five high schools do not teach CPR

Research has found that 22 per cent of secondary schools are not teaching cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), despite it being a national curriculum requirement.

The survey by Schoolzone of over 500 secondary school teachers in the UK was commissioned by the British Heart Foundation.

It found that two-thirds of teachers put the lack of teaching CPR to a shortage of trained staff, 54 per cent blamed time pressures, and a third said a lack of equipment was an issue. Despite this, 35 per cent of teachers identified CPR as an important subject to teach.

It is the law to teach CPR in all secondary schools across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, but the survey suggested that 20 per cent of teachers weren’t aware of this.

Around half of schools who responded (49 per cent) currently teach CPR using external trainers, whereas others use resources like videos and manikin. Many teachers critiqued their current resources, with 27 per cent giving them a medium or low score for effectiveness and engagement. Even when CPR teaching was taking place, the teachers were not convinced their students were engaged or properly equipped to perform the skill in real life.

More than a third of teachers (36 per cent) said that they did not feel confident teaching CPR, with some even saying that they would need a refresher course, despite already having had training. 

The British Heart Foundation offers free training through its Classroom RevivR tool, which delivers online training through a digital device, and does not require specialist equipment. The programme, having launched in 2023, teachers students how to recognise cardiac arrest, gives real-time feedback on chest compressions, and outlines how to use a defibrillator. With this, more than 61,000 students and more than 1,100 schools across the UK have learnt lifesaving CPR, with thousands more school registered to deliver training.

Estelle Stephenson, health of health partnerships and community resuscitation, says: “Every year in the UK, over 30,000 people have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and every minute without CPR and defibrillation reduces the change 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”