Vol. 500 No. 2
107 Mr. Hayes asked the Minister for Education and Science if a specific course on parenting skills exists within the transition year curriculum; his views, if any, on encouraging schools to foster modules which emphasise the responsibilities attached to good parenting skills; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3226/99]
The transition year curriculum is designed by the individual school in accordance with guidelines issued by my Department. These guidelines include sections on personal and social development and health education. Under the latter heading, relationships and sex education is mentioned as a suggested theme.
A relationships and sexuality programme has been developed in my Department for use in primary and post-primary schools. The part of this programme designed for senior cycle students at post-primary level contains a section entitled "responsible parenthood". Preliminary results of a survey of schools indicate that a significant number of schools are already teaching the RSE programme within the overall framework of SPHE – social, personal and health education. The RSE programme is available to teachers of transition year classes.
One of the broad aims of the transition year programme is to help pupils to grow in maturity. Areas of development such as decision-making and problem-solving are fostered both by the content and teaching methodologies of transition year programmes. A specific module on the family was designed jointly by the transition year support team and the Commission on the Family in 1997. This module is used in a number of transition year classes. It looks at the family from a variety of angles, including parenting.
Under the heading of preparation for adult and working life, transition year pupils do a work experience module. Many pupils do their work experience in cre±ches. The most important aspect of work experience is the reflection on that experience which takes place when pupils return to their schools. In the case of pupils that gained their work experience in cre±ches, subsequent discussion would focus on issues of child care and child rearing.
