Parents urged not to shirk sex education role

PARENTS have been urged not to shirk their responsibilities when it comes to sex education for their children.

The call came as the Department of Education took delivery of a new teaching materials pack to help teachers tasked with bringing Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) into the classroom.

The wide-ranging pack was developed jointly by the department, the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA) and is aimed at students in fifth and sixth year in secondary schools.

CPA director Caroline Spillane warned, however, that leaving the subject entirely up to teachers could leave young people unprepared for the choices and challenges they faced around their own sexuality.

“Improving knowledge about relationships and sex among adolescents is a key strategic priority for the Crisis Pregnancy Agency, but it is not solely the responsibility of schools to provide this. Parents also need to talk to their children about relationships and sex,” she said.

“If we want to protect young people from unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections and early sex we have to provide comprehensive sex education in advance of their sexual debut so that they can make informed, responsible decisions about their sexual and emotional health.”

The teaching pack, called TRUST (Talking Relationships, Understanding Sexuality Teaching), was developed in response to problems in getting RSE fully rolled out in every school.

While a HSE study in 2006 found that over 92% of the public supported comprehensive sex education for young people, research by the Department of Education and the CPA the following year found a quarter of schools had little RSE.

Teachers complained they felt ill-equipped to deliver the curriculum because they lacked suitable teaching materials and students commented that the topics of contraception, safe sex, condom use and sexual orientation were not adequately covered.

The TRUST pack includes a DVD for classroom use which includes interviews with teenagers, a drama, interviews with health professionals on contraception, sexually transmitted infections and crisis pregnancy and input from clinical psychologist David Coleman of the RTÉ programme Families in Trouble.