Ms Anna Keogh:

It is a combination of both. A circular was issued in 2010 on the use of outside facilitators to deliver the relationships and sexuality education, RSE, programme. Teachers are encouraged to bring them in. If there is a certain area a teacher is uncomfortable covering and an outside facilitator is willing to come in and cover it, that is fine. In a way they are encouraged to do so. However, there are mixed research findings. From the research we have carried out, some students prefer their teacher to cover the programme as they have a relationship with him or her and can follow up questions they have about the programme. Other students have said they would not dream of asking their teacher a question. They may know him or her from down the road and known him or her all their lives. It is a matter of combining the two and utilising the services we have available. It is a matter of empowering teachers and making them as comfortable as they can be, but if they are not comfortable teaching the programme, we cannot blame them for that. That is not the reason they may have chosen to enter the education system. If they need help to talk about contraception or lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, LGBT, issues, a person can be brought in to talk about them. Outside facilitators probably would not want to teach the whole programme, but teachers can use them as a support system.