Ms Orla McGowan:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to address it today. The Health Service Executive welcomes the review of RSE being undertaken by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA. I have worked in this area for 12 years and I and my colleague have made a detailed written submission to the committee. I will outline the main points of the submission and our thoughts on the review of RSE. I will also respond to any questions committee members may have.

RSE is a strategic focus of the HSE sexual health and crisis pregnancy programme. As outlined in our submission, we have commissioned a range of research studies and developed a range of resource materials and training for parents, teachers and youth workers in partnership with a number of different organisations, including the Department of Education and Skills, the Professional Development Service for Teachers, the National Youth Council of Ireland, Foróige, Tusla, the National Parents Council and the Irish Family Planning Association.

Overall, the evidence indicates that young people are more likely to receive sex education now than in the past and they are more likely to say that it was helpful to them. Young people who felt that they had good quality relationships and sexuality education were more likely to use contraception at first sex. Contraceptive use among young people in Ireland is very high, with approximately 80% of young people reporting use of contraception, and there as been a decline of 66% in the number of births to teenagers since 2001, and a 75% decline in the numbers of teenagers accessing abortion services since 2001.

While these findings are positive, we acknowledge that there is more to relationships in sexuality education than preventing crisis pregnancy. Sexuality education should emphasise the importance of supporting young people to understand themselves and develop healthy relationships with others. Students should be facilitated to explore and question how our society understands gender, power and sexual expression in an age-appropriate way. Several research reports have indicated that teachers find relationships and sexuality education, RSE, challenging to teach and require more professional development to improve their confidence and competence levels. It is our view that any revised curriculum on its own will not be sufficient to change practice unless it is supported by a comprehensive and potentially accredited continuing professional development, CPD, programme for teachers in social, personal and health education, SPHE, and RSE.

SPHE is the only subject at post-primary level where there is no accredited professional qualification and this contributes to the lack of status of the subject in some schools. We note and welcome that the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, review will include advice on implementation of the curriculum in schools.

Another barrier to consider is that while RSE is taught within the context of SPHE from primary level to junior cycle, SPHE is still optional at senior cycle. This means that schools are required to teach six classes of RSE per year at senior cycle, but are not required to teach it within the context of SPHE. This makes RSE more difficult to timetable and more difficult to teach because the teachers might not have the opportunity to build up a relationship with the class on other health education topics before addressing RSE. Surveys and inspection reports by the Department of Education and Skills have consistently found that RSE implementation decreases significantly in senior cycle. This is a concern because 16 to 18 year olds may be starting romantic relationships and dealing with break ups during their senior cycle years.

The committee may be interested to know that ourselves and the Department of Education and Skills have commissioned Dublin City University, DCU, to undertake a piece of research on RSE in post-primary schools to develop a more nuanced understanding of how the RSE programme is implemented. Students, parents and teachers have been interviewed. The findings are due at the end of the year and I understand they will contribute to the NCCA review. I thank the committee.