Gender issues
Research has shown that boys receive less information and support at home from parents and carers about SRE .
“SRE is all about girls”
The broad programme should be developed, taught and organised in mixed gender groups so that SRE is not isolated within the whole curriculum. It is important that boys and girls are encouraged to communicate with each other and so develop understanding and empathy for alternative points of view including the preference to delay or not have sex at all. Research tells us that poor communication within relationships is a major hindrance to the adoption of safer sexual practices.
However, it is necessary to create opportunities for single gender group work to address the different needs of girls and young women and boys and young men. It may also be important to give them space to explore issues that may be difficult in mixed groups. Research and young people themselves tell us that there are gender differences in attitudes, beliefs, feelings and peer pressure around sexuality and early sexual experiences.
SRE programmes should focus as much on boys as girls at primary level as well as secondary. Teachers need to plan a variety of activities and other pastoral strategies that will help to engage boys as well as girls. These include matching boys' learning styles and giving attention to boys' development during puberty; friendship issues especially around transition to secondary school; self-esteem, identity and stereotyping and its links with homophobia and the difficulty boys have in seeking help. Teaching methods that work particularly well with boys include the use of distancing techniques and those that deal more directly with the boys' agenda and show awareness of their particular concerns.
The underpinning issues for girls are self-esteem and the low aspirations of some girls and young women. Girls can experience more problems related to depression and anxiety than boys and some feel they have less power than boys to determine sexual practice or whether to have sex at all. Girls can be under pressure from the media and friends to develop a perfect body image, which can be highly sexualised. Teachers need to include activities that develop positive friendships between girls, interrupt patterns of low self-esteem and offer supportive strategies and links with health services around the issues of menstruation, body image and contraception.
Summer 2010. Knowsley Council is considering teaching boys and girls sex education separately in a bid to cut the area's high rates of teenage pregnancy. On the Children and Young People Now website national figures in SRE debated the issue of sex separation for SRE.
