Lesson plans to help delay early first-time sex among teens

NEW lesson plans for teachers and youth workers to help delay early first-time sex among young people were published yesterday.

The education initiative was developed by the Crisis Pregnancy Programme and the Department of Education and Skills with support from the National Youth Council of Ireland.

Part of a wider education drive — b4udecide.ie, it is aimed at encouraging younger teenagers to make healthy and responsible decisions about relationships and sex.

The new lesson plans for secondary schools were developed in response to research that found young people were having sex at an earlier age than in previous generations.

It also found that young people who experience first sexual intercourse before the age of 17 are 70% more likely to experience a crisis pregnancy in their lifetime.

The research also revealed that young people are three times more likely to report having a sexually transmitted infection and three times likely to experience abortion.

Those who had sex before the age 17 were also more likely to wish they had waited longer before having sex.

Last year the b4udecide.ie website received more than 80,000 visitors with young people looking at around three and a half pages per visit.

The lesson plans were launched together with the first annual HSE Crisis Pregnancy Programme by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald yesterday.

The minister warned that teenagers and younger children were being exposed to more sexual messaging than at any time in the past.

Ms Fitzgerald said young people needed good, clear information from their parents, schools and youth work settings on how to establish and conduct happy, safe, loving relationships and how to avoid crisis pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn, said his department would continue its drive to improve the consistent delivery of relationships and sexuality education in post primary schools.

Acting director of the Crisis Pregnancy Programme, Dr Stephanie O’Keeffe, said it would be coordinating a large scale dissemination of the lesson plans to post primary schools and youth work settings over the coming months.

“While we have seen sustained reductions in teenage pregnancy and teenage abortion rates over the last 10 years, evidence shows that young people continue to face immense pressures from the internet, adverting and, of course, their peers,” she said.

Last year marked a new 10-year low in the number and rate of births to teenagers in Ireland. Teenage births have decreased by 355 since 2001.

2010 also saw the number and rate of abortions decrease for the ninth year, down by 38% since 2001.

* crisispregnancy.ie