Sex in the City

The photo is my old school, Morgan Academy, Dundee.  It's one of two schools in the city of Dundee - the other being Menzieshill High School - that has been part of a pilot scheme for the past year.

Nothing unusual about that until you learn that the pilot scheme, operated by Health Buddies, involves the recruitment and training of S3 (14-15-year-olds) in sex and relationships.  The S3 pupils then pass on their knowledge to S1 (11-12-year-olds).  The board of NHS Tayside were told the Health Buddies project has been awarded a Diana certificate of excellence.  Wow.

The aim of the scheme is to reduce teenage pregnancies as Dundee and the surrounding areas are consistently reported having the highest rates in Scotland.

Trustees of NHS Tayside Endowment Fund have agreed to provide £150,000 from the charitable fund to continue the programme and extend the scheme to two more schools in Dundee.

I'm bewildered by this sum of money going towards 15-year-olds teaching 12-year-olds about sex and relationships.  It must be a generational problem because I don't understand what experience 15-year-old children have of sex and sexual relationships.  'Training' them in the subject sounds very NWO to me.  If this scheme involved 6th year pupils instead of those aren't even old enough to legally leave school and are still legally minors, then it would be a different story.  Aren't teachers providing enough sex education?  There's enough time and money spent on the subject. Our schools are taking on more and more parenting responsibilites which dilute their reason d'etre of providing children with a formal education.  Is it any wonder standards in basic subjects are falling?

To put this expenditure into perspective - the Trustees also approved £19,200 from the endowment fund for the benefit of severely disabled children.  The money will be spent on an upgrade of the sensory room at Glenlaw House where children go for respite to give families a break from round the clock caring.

A further £15,296 of charitable funding was approved to convert an out-patient corridor at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee to an eye clinic consulting room.  Why on earth is a charity paying for internal alterations to an NHS hospital?

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NICE Nonsense

I thought I'd heard most daft ideas until I read the latest nonsense from NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence).

It suggests that antenatal clinics could be set up in schools because 'evidence' shows that pregnant under-20s often feel excluded from mainstream antenatal care or judged by their peers. NICE wants midwives to be able to go into schools to offer advice to expectant young mothers and carry out health checks.

Experts behind the guidance, which applies to England and Wales, said services should be tailored to the needs of women in each region, such as providing 'one-stop shop' antenatal care in areas with high teen pregnancy rates.


 "Young women aged under 20 may be reluctant to recognise their pregnancy or inhibited by embarrassment and fear of parental reaction. They may also have practical problems such as difficulty getting to and from antenatal appointments."

Take a guess where Rhona Hughes, chair of the guideline development group, discovered this idea?  Aye, the US where it is a 'common pattern of care'.  She also adds that teenagers can 'feel embarrassed going to clinics where there are older women' and can feel like an outsider.  If they were infected with an STI would they feel embarrassed going to clinics where there are older women?

The proposal falls on its face because any woman will acknowledge that during their first pregnancy their greatest help came from the women at antenatal classes.  Pregnant school pupils are no different to any woman experiencing her first pregnancy.  The concerns are similar and the best way to resolve issues is by talking with other women in a similar situation.  There is a shortage of midwives in this country and their work load has been increased by the disappearance of the family health visitor.

I should think that most under-20 pregnant young women would feel insulted by the implication that they aren't responsible enough to attend antenatal appointments and that includes those still in school.

Our schools need to stop being centres for society and return to being places where our children are taught the skills which will take them forward to further education or equip them for entry into the workplace.

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Government's Teenage Pregnancy Strategy a Failure

I wasn't going to use the above cartoon as an introduction to this post but decided it was perhaps appropriate after all.

Labour's ten year stategy, costing millions of pounds, to cut the number of teenage pregnancies in Britain has failed to make any serious impact - a considerable embarrassment after the £280 million spent on initiatives they promised would transform thousands of young people's lives.

They blame some local authorities for not implementing the strategy well and accuse some GP surgeries, clinics and pharmacies of failing to make young people welcome when they turn up for advice.

Canada and the US have recorded a marked reduction in teenage pregnancies in the past 25 years yet Britain continues to have the highest rate in Europe.

The government's solution, to be announced today, will be more access to long-acting contraception such as implants and injection and phone texts to remind girls to use contraceptives. The mind boggles!


Could a return to the days of the cartoon be more effective? It worked for many women of my age.

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Teenage Pregnancy

Both Charlotte Gore and Caron have posted about Gordon Brown's declaration that his government will provide a network of supervised homes for 16-17 year old mothers.

The comments on both blogs are interesting with many denying it is our very generous benefit system which encourages girls to take unnecessary risks with their sex life. Devil's Kitchen states in Charlotte's comment section: 'Britain and Ireland were found to be the two with the highest benefits for lone parents in a survey of 14 European countries. They were also the countries with the highest proportions of lone mothers.'

What I cannot understand is why, after a generation of mandatory sex education in schools, is the birth rate still increasing?

Why has the abortion rate risen so much since 1968? (See graph). My apologies, I could not find a graph for Scotland.

Caron says education, contraception, assertiveness and self-esteem are the answers. Millions of pounds have been ploughed into the teaching of sex education and contraception with little or no results. In my experience young girls have good levels of assertiveness in comparison with my own teenage days. Self-esteem is something which is not so easily measured, but no matter how hard schools try to build confidence and self-esteem, these characteristics develop over a lifetime.

I can't remember many of my own peer group having much confidence or self-esteem at the age of 15 or 16, or having any sex education, but none decided having unprotected sex was a good idea. In fact I doubt if many of us had experienced sex at that age. Why? Because we knew the shame and disgrace having a baby so young would cause our families. In the 60s, when babies were no longer removed for adoption, there was no taxpayers' money to provide for you or your child and the responsibility fell on the girl's family - the boy and his family usually contributed too. We respected our families enough not to cause them such distress. The decision, if a girl did become pregnant by accident, was usually abortion followed by a strict lecture on contraception.

We've gone too far with our liberal attitudes and we now have a few generations with too many having no concept of shame or right and wrong. We have youngsters drinking themselves senseless and lying in gutters - they think that's 'normal' behaviour because society appears to condone it. Any dissenters are told they have unpleasant prejudices.

How do we return to a society with a sense of morals which will help our children through the complex maze of life?

The benefit system has to change. Teenagers who become pregnant and there's no father visible should not be given priority with housing. Give them child benefits but let them find their own living expenses. Of course the welfare of the child is paramount, but should we be paying for homes to be redecorated, washing machines or microwaves? These are seen to be 'essentials' in today's world. By taking this action they may begin to use some of the education they have been given, make decisions more appropriate to their futures and gain some confidence. They may also gain a sense of pride in their achievements and this would be transferred to their child over time. Therein lies the answer to assertiveness and self-esteem.

Radical? Yes. Necessary? If we want a caring society, yes. A caring society is one which is interested in their young people and wants to help them have an even better life than older generations. Putting them in homes to learn parenting skills is not an answer and will only compound their inadequacies. A caring society does not leave the upbringing of children completely in the hands of government, as we have done in recent years.

Young lone mothers are not really so different to the rest of their peers because many in later life regret being a parent so young. So often I've heard 'if only I had really understood what having a child was all about I wouldn't have been so impulsive'. They see their behaviour as impulsive and not irresponsible.

Today I was talking to a retired educationalist who said teachers were not permitted to mention the words 'shame' or 'disgrace' because they are negative terms. Sex education has to be taught using positive expressions such as 'choice' and 'stable relationships'. Then she said it was so sad because many children in today's society don't know the meaning of a stable relationship.

Governments have produced a benefits culture into our society - it's time politicians took serious action to replace it. Wouldn't it be refreshing to become a society known for teaching their children the meaning of ambition?

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