This brief explores how there is evidence that school drills play a pivotal role in both the gradual improvement of school disaster risk reduction, and response preparedness. There is also scholarly consensus that emergency response skills are important to master, and that school drills provide children and adults with important opportunities to learn and practice protective actions and build confidence in such actions. The research also points to how to improve school drills to make them more effective. The findings support recommendations in two areas: individual capacity-building, with suggestions for how to supplement and modify drills, test realistic scenarios, avoid confusion and build confidence; and organisational capacity-building, with suggestions for ‘after-action reviews’ processes, and developing links between school and household and community preparedness. This brief is part of a series.

The Research-into-Action Brief series includes two main tools:

1. Research-into-Action Briefs and Summaries

2. Shared Bibliography on Zotero: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1857446/ccrr__css

These tools are for practitioners working in fields of child-centred risk reduction (CCRR), climate change adaptation (CCA) and school safety. The briefs and summaries are also intended to be used for training and capacity development for practitioners and partners, including government.

The briefs provide a concise review of research findings on a range of topics which have been selected by practitioners. The briefs have a focus on how the research findings could be (or have been) applied in practice. Each brief is 6-10 pages long, and generally contains a glossary, literature review, case study or examples, practical applications, key readings, and follow-up questions.

The summaries are two pages long and provide a quick snapshot of the main messages from the briefs. These can be used to both promote the full Research-into-Action Brief, to provide a quick overview of the topic, or to promote the use of research.