Seanad debates

Tuesday, 5 February 2019

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

 

2:30 pm

Photo of Lynn RuaneLynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the issue of the report published last Tuesday by the Joint Committee on Education and Skills, of which I am a member. It is the product of a major body of work with academics, sexual health experts, teachers organisations, bodies representing students and school boards of management. We have made a number of wide-ranging recommendations on curriculum reform that will now be delivered to the Minister for Education and Skills and fed into the review being carried out by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA. Our recommendations have at all times been guided by best practice and domestic and international evidence, and motivated by wanting to see our young people happy, empowered and informed as they explore relationships and sexuality for the first time. It has been over 20 years since the social, personal and health education, SPHE, curriculum was last reviewed and we want to make sure our proposed reforms reflect the huge social and political changes in Ireland during that time, particularly the recent referendums on same-sex marriage and repeal of the eighth amendment.

The report and its recommendations are detailed and comprehensive. I would like to draw attention of the House to some key changes we have proposed. We want relationships and sexuality education, RSE, and SPHE classes to start at a younger age in primary school and in a developmentally appropriate manner. The use of outside providers is the most common way RSE is delivered to students at the moment and we want such providers regulated by the HSE and the Department of Education and Skills. We want teachers to be able to be specialised in RSE and we want RSE reform to be taught as part of a whole-school approach, with extra resources given to school principals and boards to support this. In terms of the curriculum, we have recommended that LGBTQI education, consent, reproductive healthcare and pornography form part of any new curriculum. We have also called for the amendment of the Education Act 1998 to remove ethos as a barrier to delivering objective and factual sex education. This is a progressive report, proposing some big changes that will benefit students and young people. I would like the Leader to organise a debate in the Seanad on the report in the near future.

On a related note, I ask the Government for an update on the plans to fully commence the Data Protection Act 2018, including the provisions on the micro-targeting of children, which Senator Higgins and I worked to include in the legislation.

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