Stormont sex ed consultation amended after CI intervention

The Christian Institute has secured important amendments to a Stormont consultation on Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE).

The survey was criticised for only providing ‘Yes/No’ tick boxes to most questions, leaving respondents unable to give fuller, qualified answers. One question, for example, seemed to require parents to agree that ‘LGBTQIA+’ issues should be taught in primary schools.

In another question, it asked whether teaching on certain issues should be “age-appropriate, comprehensive and scientifically accurate”, but gave no option for people to state what they felt would be age-appropriate or not.

Amendments

Acknowledging the Institute’s concerns, the Assembly’s Committee for Education has agreed to change its online survey. New comment boxes, it said, would enable participants to give meaningful feedback on sex education provision in schools.

The Committee also noted that it had received correspondence from others raising similar issues.

Members of the Committee agreed with the Institute’s proposal, that once the updated survey is published the consultation period should be extended. Previous participants will be allowed to resubmit their responses.

The Institute’s Northern Ireland Policy Officer James Kennedy expressed gratitude that members had engaged with its concerns. He said: “MLAs know parents are deeply concerned about any changes to the RSE curriculum. They should be doing their utmost to listen to those concerns.”

Parental rights

Under Westminster-imposed changes to RSE, all post-primary children should learn about contraception and abortion. However, parents and carers may request their child be withdrawn from all or part of a school’s teaching on these controversial issues.

But in September, Northern Ireland’s human rights chief claimed that the parental ‘right of withdrawal’ from classes on abortion is an unhelpful ‘barrier’ to sex education.

Alyson Kilpatrick, Chief Commissioner to the publicly-funded Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, told the Education Committee that children have a right to this teaching, which should override the parent’s right to have their religious or philosophical views respected.

But DUP MLA David Brooks argued that the dispute appeared to be more about “empowering the state to impart its view” on contraception and abortion, rather than “about the rights of the child”.

Public opposition

Last year, a Department of Education (DoE) consultation revealed that almost three quarters of respondents oppose the teaching of abortion in schools without considering ethical concerns.

Following the twelve-week consultation, the DoE revealed that 73 per cent of respondents were opposed to amoral teaching of abortion in schools, with less than a quarter in favour.

In written responses, only six per cent said teaching should be exclusively scientific, with over 43 per cent writing that they believe the subject should include moral and ethical perspectives.

The consultation also revealed that 91 per cent believed that parents “should be informed about the specific nature and content” of RSE, particularly in relation to pregnancy and abortion, and 74 per cent indicated in written responses that “parents’ rights should take precedence”.