Written answers

Thursday, 20 November 2014

Department of Education and Skills

Departmental Programmes

Photo of Martin HeydonMartin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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131. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide details of programmes run by her Department for school-going children to educate them and raise awareness of issues around domestic abuse; her plans for further initiatives in this area to increase awareness among children of supports and protections available to them; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44736/14]

Photo of Jan O'SullivanJan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Relationship and Sexuality Education is embedded within Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) at Junior Cycle level. Schools are also required to provide an Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) programme in Senior Cycle.

The SPHE curriculum aims to provide a range of generic skills such as communicating, making decisions, knowing where to find reliable data, belonging and integrating, handling conflict constructively, dealing with bullying, expressing feelings and emotions, substance abuse, resisting peer pressure, personal safety, values and mutual respect.

Relationships and Sexuality Education aims to enable our young people to have the knowledge and understanding to cope with challenges and to develop resilience in difficult situations. The themes of domestic violence is not dealt with explicitly. Instead, a generic skills approach is adopted which can be adapted to relevant situation, including domestic abuse. SPHE also promotes respect and equality in relationships. The personal safety strand of the SPHE curriculum in year 3 of Junior Cycle provides specifically for recognising unsafe situations, it also covers the issue of violence and sources of help.

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