Ms Sarah Haslam:

I will reply to Deputies Funchion and Martin. The first comment was about parents. Relationships and sexuality education does not start and end in school. Parents should be supported in this. In our experience, before we start any of our programmes, we arrange an information night for parents where they are given many of the resources. When they leave those meetings, they have comprehensive knowledge of what we will cover in our programme and they are supported throughout the programme. They should be able to have these conversations at home. They know they are started and developed by us but they can continue to have them at home. Parents need to be supported and involved in this.

With regard to the comment on teachers and teachers being unsure or unwilling, when teachers come to us and want to use our programme, it is striking that they have heard, believe and know that this is a comprehensive programme that has been tried and tested. They feel confident within that. If I am given a curriculum that is really good, that everybody else says is really good and has gone through rigorous testing and evaluation, that will support me. Another response that we receive from teachers is that they want to receive ongoing feedback from us. We have a training department. In addition to providing training, we also offer continuous support through newsletters, telephone calls and other types of support. That is really important. There is an issue if there is no continuing professional development, CPD, or adequate training. What is required is training plus follow-up and continued support.

On age appropriate content, the programme that we have is for young people aged 12 to 18 years. It is divided into core modules, of which there are six, and every participant in the programme does the core modules. We train our facilitators to be able to identify particular needs as the programme starts and finishes. They choose a number of elective modules based on the needs, the age and the awareness of the young people in question. This approach, where we have a core programme and a number of elective modules that can be facilitated afterwards, ensures that core learning, development and outcomes are achieved for all young people who participate.