Neasa Hourigan
Question:128. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Minister for Education her plans to update the relationships and sexuality education teaching resource material; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [57254/21]
View answerTuesday, 23 November 2021
Questions (128)
Written answers
In April 2018, then Minister for Education and Skills Mr. Richard Bruton asked the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) to undertake a major review of Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools across all stages of education to ensure that it is fit for purpose and meets the needs of young people today in modern Ireland. The NCCA advises the Department and Minister in relation to the curriculum to be taught in schools.
The Final Report on the Review of RSE in Primary and Post-primary Schools was published by the NCCA in December, 2019.
While the SPHE curriculum overall is being redeveloped across all age-groups, this will take time and there is an ongoing need to support schools in providing positive, inclusive, and comprehensive RSE.
In the interim, the NCCA has established two development groups, one for primary and one for post-primary, to oversee the work in this area and support the development of guidance material for schools. The immediate focus of the work is on creating support materials for teachers for publication online as part of the Interim Guidance Toolkit. The toolkit's purpose is to support effective teaching and learning of SPHE/RSE linked to the current curriculum. This work is progressing well and with sections of the toolkit (a portal repository of teaching and learning resources linked to the Primary SPHE Curriculum, the SPHE Junior Cycle Short Course and Senior Cycle SPHE Framework). The Council has been collaborating with the PDST, Junior Cycle for Teachers and the Health Service Executive to see how these resources can be used to support CPD provision in this area. The teaching resources can be found at www.pdst.ie/post-primary/health-wellbeing/sphe and on the NCCA SPHE toolkits at www.curriculumonline.ie