Martin McAleese (Independent)

I move:

That Seanad Éireann notes that:

— the social, personal and health education, SPHE, programme, incorporating relationships and sexuality education, RSE, has been a mandatory part of the curriculum in all primary and junior cycle post-primary schools since 2003;

— all schools are obliged to have an agreed school policy and a suitable RSE programme in place for senior cycle students;

— a recent forum in Áras an Uachtaráin on Working Together to Promote Positive Mental Health, attended by representatives of the relevant stakeholders including young people, highlighted the need for schools to play their part in this crucial aspect of growing into adulthood;

— this forum pointed to the centrality of the RSE programme for promoting positive mental health in our young people and that the effective implementation of such a programme in all schools was critical to the development of active, fully rounded and responsible citizens;

— forum participants pointed out that in some schools the senior cycle was dominated by the examination system which often had a distorting effect on the priority afforded to the social, personal and health development of the pupils, thereby contributing to a poor and inconsistent delivery of the RSE programme;

— the quality and inconsistency of the implementation of the SPHE programme in some of our schools and, in particular, the narrow focus of the RSE programme being experienced by many senior cycle pupils has given rise to concern;

and calls on:

— the Minister for Education and Skills to give serious and sustained attention to redress this imbalance and to ensure that our education system responds to all of the developmental needs of each individual pupil.

I am pleased to introduce this motion, which deals with the difficulties being experienced by some of our school pupils with the quality and consistency of their schools' implementation of the social, personal and health education, SPHE, programme and the relationships and sexuality education, RSE, programme. The object of the motion is to highlight the collective responsibility we have to ensure that Ireland's education system is playing the best part it can in assisting our young people to have a solid foundation for the emotional, social, psychological and physical aspects of growing up which adequately covers education about relationships, human sexuality, sexual health and mental well being.

Both the SPHE and RSE programmes have been mandatory in all primary and junior cycle post-primary schools since 2003. In addition, allschools are required to have an agreed policy on SPHE. The SPHE curriculum at primary level is designed to foster, in an age appropriate way, the personal development, health and well-being of the individual child. The junior cycle SPHE curriculum builds on this at second level. For senior cycle students, all schools are obliged to have an agreed school policy and a suitable RSE programme in place. It should include in-depth coverage of issues such as relationships, accepting sexual orientation, pregnancy, family planning, contraception, responsible parenthood, implications of sexual activity, sexually transmitted diseases, as well as sexual harassment and assault.

When done well, SPHE provides students with dedicated time and space to develop the skills and competences needed to care for themselves and others. It provides them with the information and insight to make informed decisions about their health, personal lives and social development. The old way of seeing health as merely the absence of illness or disease has today been overtaken by a much broader view in which physical health is just one element along with emotional, mental, spiritual, social and sexual health. Adolescence makes huge demands on all these aspects of health, and all are very relevant to the SPHE and RSE curricula.

However, figures given in the 2009 Dáil na nÓg survey show that, in the respondents' schools, almost three quarters of senior cycle pupils did not have RSE classes in that year and in 85% of these schools RSE was not timetabled as a class. It may shock Members to discover that recent studies and surveys reveal that the priority issue for our young people is their mental health. I had the privilege recently of attending a useful forum in Áras an Uachtaráin entitled Working Together to Promote Positive Mental Health.It focused on young people and some very inspirational people of diverse ages shared their life experiences, allowing us to drill deeply into aspects of the mental health of our young people.

Many participants pointed to the centrality of the RSE programme in encouraging positive mental health in our young people. All acknowledged that responsibility for mental health does not lie solely with the statutory mental health services but that the consistent and effective implementation of SPHE and RSE programmes has a critical contribution to make and at an important juncture in young lives. It must be acknowledged that considerable good work in SPHE and RSE curriculum development has been done, and continues to be done, by the Department of Education and Skills.

Our cadre of teachers is nationally and internationally recognised as being of the highest calibre with a huge commitment to the holistic education of pupils. The Department provides regular professional development for teachers, supported by guidelines and other resources. Schools have access to the National Educational Psychological Service and post-primary schools have access to guidance counsellors. The SPHE and RSE programmes are evaluated by the Department's inspectorate as part of its whole school evaluation process. However, despite these very positive factors and for whatever reasons, the quality and consistency of the delivery of these programmes remain a matter of serious concern.

Some experts point to barriers to implementation that arise, such as lack of a pre-service qualification for second level teachers in RSE in particular, the personal discomfort of some teachers when dealing with matters of sexuality, concerns with regard to possible conflict with the ethos of the school, lack of consistent co-ordination or leadership within schools or the dominance of the school academic examination system, as being among a range of reasons for the problems that persist.

This House has a role to play in ensuring that, alongside their vocational and academic training, our young people's education for life is sensitive and sympathetic to their whole human development so they can enter adulthood with the coping skills and personal resilience buffers which sustain good mental health. Serious and sustained attention is now needed to redress contemporary imbalances and to ensure that our education system is implementing consistently and effectively the SPHE and RSE curricula which were designed to meet the development needs of each individual pupil. I hope the House will see merit in supporting the motion.