Students will not be shown sexually explicit material or asked to watch pornography “under any circumstances” as part of the new Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) curriculum, Minister for Education Norma Foley has said.
It follows a call from one of the Minster’s colleagues, Sean Fleming TD, to withdraw material on the SPHE course after a teacher claimed in a viral YouTube video that young people would be exposed to inappropriate sexual material.
Last year, a new SPHE curriculum for Junior Cycle was introduced for all first-year students at second level. Among the topics covered include self-awareness and self-esteem, emotional wellbeing, relationships and sexuality.
In a video viewed more than 425,000 times, Tipperary teacher Mary Creedon said she resigned from her role as SPHE teacher and co-ordinator in protest over being expected to teach “graphic” material to students.
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Ms Creedon, who attended a training course at Dublin City University (DCU) for the new curriculum along with more than 30 other teachers, said she was “horrified” by some of the material used.
She said it included a video of an illustrated female figure demonstrating masturbation and an animated “sex map” of heterosexual and homosexual couples engaged in different sex acts.
She also described a number of activities such as arranging different statements around sex – such as “it’s okay to have sex with 10 different partners” – into “porn world”, “real world”; and ranking sexual terminology as “sexual” or “intimate”.
Ms Creedon, who has previously been vocal in her criticism against SPHE and gender identity, made the comments in a video published by the Natural Women’s Council, which describes itself as a “grassroots non-profit group formed to protect children, women and families in Ireland”.
Mr Fleming TD has since called on Ms Foley to withdraw the material which he described as a “total disgrace”.
However, Ms Foley said the video was “full of misrepresentations” and material on the teacher training course was for adults only.
“I want to be really, really clear, no graphic or explicit material is ever, ever shown in a classroom setting. I want to be really, really clear about that. And that’s been entirely misrepresented here,” she said.
The Department of Education also said any suggestion that teachers would be expected to teach explicit content or topics is “false”.
“The curriculum categorically does not expose children to graphic or explicit content, or normalise the use of pornography,” it said. “On the contrary, key messages would be that pornography is not a good place to go to learn about sex, that it can be disturbing and even damaging for young people, and that it is incompatible with values of human dignity, respect and gender equality.”
The department said that a time when young people are bombarded with often distorted online information, the curriculum is designed to give them the tools to help them navigate this new world safely.
DCU, meanwhile, said teachers participating in the graduate diploma in SPHE/relationships and sexuality education course are involved in “critical exploration of resources and content related to SPHE and RSE”, which includes material accessed by children and young adults directly.
“As such, these materials are provided to them as adults and no graphic or explicit material is for use in a classroom setting,” it said.
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