A concerned mum has warned that the Irish Government’s revisions to the Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) curriculum risk children being taught ‘ideologies not facts’.
Sandra Adams fears that SPHE linked resources promoting transgender ideology will expose children to contentious and harmful ideas being presented as scientific truths.
Changes to SPHE have already taken place for pupils who started Junior Cycle in September 2023. For Senior Cycle, the changes began in September 2024 and are to be implemented for Year 5 from September 2027. Changes in primary schools are expected from September 2025.
Speaking to Carl O’Brien, The Irish Times’ Education Editor, Adams explained that “if you go into a school and teach that ‘everyone has a gender identity’, that’s simply not true. We have to teach facts, not ideologies.
“Children don’t have a stable sense of identity and can be easily influenced and manipulated. So, it’s profoundly irresponsible to say you can change sex.”
The mother of two argued that teachers are being directed to “ideologically driven” resources such as ‘Busy bodies’, a Health Service Executive booklet on puberty for eight to twelve-year-olds.
The cartoon booklet, she pointed out, states that “as well as a biological sex, we all have a gender identity. This is how we think of ourselves as a boy, a girl, neither or both”.
In February, The Christian Institute launched a new guide to SPHE for Christian parents.
Recognising that some of the proposed changes risk promoting transgender ideology, it provides good educational and legal reasons why schools must not interpret the new curriculum in this way.
The guide sets out clearly what parents, grandparents and others can do to help ensure schools make good decisions.
Parents may be worried about upcoming changes to Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE). This booklet explains why.