Male and female pupils are to be taught separately during sex education classes in a bid to cut teenage pregnancy rates in Knowsely, Merseyside, an area notorious for the highest rates of teenage motherhood in Britain.
In the late 1990s, Knowsley, dubbed ‘Single Mother Central’, became notorious for one of the country's highest rates of teenage motherhood, at almost 55 pregnancies per 1,000 girls. In 2008 that was cut to 43.3.
However, the area still holds the highest proportion of children born outside marriage at 68.5 per cent.
The Merseyside borough council are backing segregated sex education lessons in a bid to further cut teenage pregnancies, and make pupils feel more ‘comfortable’ about discussing issues concerning sex, after a review found that children are more likely to heed the advice of same sex peers.
Norman Wells, director of the Family Education Trust said:
‘There is always a danger that discussing sexual issues in the classroom could break down the inhibitions of children and young people and make them more vulnerable, and this may be a particular risk within a mixed-sex group,’ he said.
‘However, whether it is delivered in a mixed-sex or single-sex group, Knowsley Council is sadly mistaken if it imagines that more sex education, combined with more contraceptive schemes for schoolchildren, is going to reduce teenage pregnancy rates and high rates of sexually transmitted infections.
‘The effect of the teenage pregnancy strategy on some teenagers has been to give them the green light to experiment sexually when they might not otherwise have done so,’ he added.
In his booklet Too Much, Too Soon, Mr Wells explains that some key players in the campaign for more sex education seek to encourage young people for more sexual experimentation instead of giving an honest advice about the consequences of sex. He says that schools need to be modest and restrained in how we talk to young people about sex, and give clear moral direction stressing the positive benefits of saving sex for marriage.
Family values campaigners have branded the initiative ‘wrong-headed’ yesterday blaming Britain’s insoluble teenage pregnancy problem on the constant emphasis on sex education.
In February 2010, a new study on sex education in schools revealed the importance of abstinence-only sex education for pre-teens, and that it is effective in delaying sexual activity and reducing pregnancy and venereal diseases.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, shows that children taught abstinence are more likely to delay having sex than those given lessons about contraception.
(See the CCFON report)
At the end of January 2010, the Christian Peoples Alliance (CPA) party called for the contest of the plans by Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats to impose their sexual equalities agenda on schools.
Following statements this year by David Cameron and Nick Clegg that they support Labour's plans for relationships outside of heterosexual marriage to be taught as normative to schoolchildren, the CPA urged parents to assert their legal right for children to be brought up in conformity with their own Christian ethical stance.
(See the CCFON report)