Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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89. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will report on the inspection of relationships and sexuality education in primary and secondary schools; if measures are being taken to improve the delivery of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29392/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Provision for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in primary schools is currently evaluated through two main models of inspection:  Curriculum Evaluations of Social Personal and Health Education (SPHE) and Whole School Evaluations (WSE) where SPHE is one of the subjects of focus in the WSE. At post-primary level, provision for  RSE is evaluated during Subject Inspections of SPHE in post-primary schools.

In addition, there are a number of other types of inspection during which inspectors review school planning documents to determine the provision a school is making for RSE. They include: Whole-School Evaluations – Management Leadership and Learning (WSE-MLLs) in primary and post-primary schools, Evaluations of Special Care Units, Evaluations of Centres for Education (Youthreach) and Evaluations of action planning for Improvement in DEIS schools (both primary and post-primary).

In April of this year, I announced a major review of the Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) curriculum and this review (by the NCCA) is underway. 

The review will cover both the content of the RSE curriculum and support materials, as well as the delivery of the curriculum to students.