Plans for a standalone course to teach primary pupils about world religions and ethics may be hampered by a law that gives a school patron tight control on what can be taught.

Social media training for youngsters is as vital as putting stabilisers on a bike, writes Caroline Delaney 

Second-level principals have welcomed the idea of schools being obliged to teach dedicated cyberbullying classes to all students.

DESPITE the ongoing debate in Britain, there are no plans here to introduce pornography filtering in Ireland, according to the Department of Justice.

School programmes to educate young people about domestic and sexual violence are not working, according to a study.

A SCHOOL which decided not to give students relationship and sexuality education is to review its policy following criticism in a Department of Education inspection report.

A PROMINENT survivor of clerical sex abuse has urged the Government to make it mandatory for schools to teach a programme that helps children protect themselves in danger situations.

Education chiefs vowed tonight to increase pressure on schools to improve sex education after a shocking survey revealed three-quarters of teenagers are not taught the subject.

THE effectiveness of the country’s main drugs education programme for schools has been seriously questioned in the new National Drugs Strategy (NDS).

I WAS trying to separate two squabbling children and get them out the door to catch a bus when I first heard a newscaster announce that the actress Natasha Richardson had sustained a serious fall on a Canadian ski slope.

SCHOOLS, parents and even teachers are having to pay to get experts into classrooms to talk to students about drugs, a Dáil committee heard yesterday.

EFFORTS to get more children interested in science are being hindered by lack of teaching materials and overcrowded classes, according to an official report to Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe.

ANOTHER impact of Ireland’s low level of computer and other technological facilities in schools is highlighted in the primary curriculum review report.

CHILDREN are learning about the basic facts of life from as young as seven or eight but they are still ringing help-lines in their thousands every year with questions about sexuality.

GAY and lesbian teenagers are being forced to leave school because they are being bullied over their sexual orientation, an expert claimed yesterday.

REDBRANCH, a not-for-profit consultancy which provides healthy eating and lifestyle seminars to primary school children, has accused the country’s soft drink lobbyists of attempting to blatantly market their products in the classroom.

FOUR out of 10 secondary schools have failed to fully implement the State’s sex education programme since it was introduced nine years ago, a conference on adolescent sexual behaviour and sexual health heard yesterday.

THE majority of primary and secondary schools have failed to implement road safety programmes drawn up by the National Safety Council (NSC), according to an international study.

TOO many schools are still not facing up to the serious problem of bullying, a conference on the issue heard yesterday.