sex education in schools

hello im sarah and i live in the uk one of our new laws in britain is to start teaching children as young as 5 sex education.i am a mom to a 8 year old girl and personally disagree with this at such a young age also as her mom i feel it my responsibility to teach her about this subject in later years.the uk has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies which is to be believed to be because of lack of knowledge.i would be very interested to hear peoples comments and views and at what age in other countries is sex education learned.

Hi Sarah and welcome to BellyBelly - you should stick around, it would be great to have another international member!!

Sex Education... Ummm, there is no universal grade/age in Australia, least not to my knowledge and I didn't leave school all too long ago.

I had my first sex education class in Grade Six (I was 10/11 years old - however I skipped a year of school so most would be 11/12). That was mostly talk of the menstrual cycle, erections, conception - I don't know that there was too much information about contraceptive but I don't remember.

Year 9 was the second lot so I would have been 13/14 years old. That was in depth about contraception - basically the kind of sex ed where they hand out condoms & bananas, pass around a diaphragm, talk about hormonal contraceptives etc.

But I know people who had no sex ed until Year 10 - when a lot of students turn sixteen. I personally think that is too old, because I'd say that's about the average age most females become sexually active (can't be bothered finding statisitics to back me up, sorry).


I can completely understand your hesitation about education of sex at such a tender age. I my child asks I will want to be straight with them - babies come out of mummy's vagina, not mummy's tummy, etc. I don't know that I would do the full story so young though.

I think the last year of primary school is an appropriate age for sex ed... but that's me personally. I don't think children younger than that are really exposed to discussion by their peers too often, and I think any older and they have more highly influential, possibly sexually active people around them - also when peer pressure begins to play a larger role in their life and when they want to fit in and be cool.

Sorry, convoluted insomniac ramble. *yawn* HTH.

Ashlea
x.

I'm also in the UK, i have a 2.5 year old DD.

I am strongly in favour of sex education from age 5/6. If you look at the government policies proposed they are not actually going to teach 5 year olds about the mechanics of sex and contraception, they are going to begin the process of talking to them about relationships, biology and hygiene in an age-appropriate and culturally sensitive way. Contraception is not covered until much later, as the child approaches puberty.

I understand the viewpoint that a parent might want to feel they are responsible for teaching this sort of thing, but the fact is that many parents don't. The majority of teen pregnancies in the UK occur because the teens DON'T KNOW the facts. Not because they chose to ignore them. "It was only once" "it was my first time" "we did it standing up" "he pulled out" are still the ahgast cries of many a young parent who can't believe they got caught out and made a baby. I used to work in Health Promotion for the NHS Greater Glasgow and you should HEAR some of the myths kids think are true! *I* will be beginning DD's sex education at 5 even if the school isn't!

Finland has the lowest rate of teen pregnancy in Europe (all of the scandinavian countries have drastically lower rates than the UK) and their sex education begins at 6, when they start school. They talk about relationships (homo/hetero/bi-sexual), and what is desireable (trust, respect, caring, love) and what isn't (violence, coersion, manipulation, force) in simple terms (i.e. they don't talk at 7 about rape, but they talk about how it feels if someone forces you to play a playground game when you don't want to and how you won't want to be friends anymore and how respect is a base for ALL relationships). They cover biology and health, and as the children age they cover reproduction contraception and STD's in growing detail.

The fact of the matter is that as soon as puberty hits humans (indeed ALL mammals) begin to have sexual urges and curiosities. When DD's sexual self awakes i'd rather her education in that area was complete, not 3 years off beginning! It's like trying to teach them the green cross code when they're already standing in the middle of the road at rush hour!

Bx

Thanks for explaining that more thoroughly Hoobley :)

I agree with you Hoobley... In fact that was pretty much what I was going to say.

We've already got a 'reproduction education' book for Jazz, aimed at very young kids. And one about relationships, all flavours, and good (loving) and bad (violent) relationships. It has to all be age appropriate obviously, but I think the educationshould start when kids ask.

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When DD's sexual self awakes i'd rather her education in that area was complete, not 3 years off beginning! It's like trying to teach them the green cross code when they're already standing in the middle of the road at rush hour!

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100% agree. thats a great way to put it!

I personally tinkg 5-6 is a little young but it depends on what they are teaching at that age kwim?

For me I think it should start in year 5 in Pimary school.. We have started talking to our 9 yr about things.. and he has a couple books.. He and his friends talk about all sorts of things so it was time to set the record straight..

Thankyou for your comments everyone you all had good valid points.i wondered if anyone could help me im new on here and i just wondered how you get those little pictures with your names by it and your childrens names.hope that makes sense.:)