Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy raises a very important issue. We have seen reports on the news in recent weeks on the impact of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. It is important that we raise awareness, as a society. These are also conversations that need to happen at home, with parents.

It is important that we situate the area of learning within the SPHE programme, rather than in a separate programme. SPHE aims to equip young people and students with the knowledge and understanding of how to navigate the world around them, to make decisions, to understand how to forge healthy relationships, and where to seek help or information when it is needed. These are all crucial skills. Of course, teacher competence and confidence are very important in the SPHE classes. That is why Oide, which deals with professional learning for teachers across the country, has rolled out an extensive programme of teacher professional learning over the past three years to support the introduction of the new SPHE specifications. There have been more than 10,000 teacher interactions, as I said. Resources are also available online to support SPHE teachers in the classroom. They have been developed in close collaboration with the HSE, the NCCA and my Department. I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue.

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