Saturday, March 16, 2019

#CSW63 Listening to the next generation

Thursday 15th March 2019

The voices of 'little' sisters have continued to be amplified in this space over the week and they have well and truly claimed their space within the feminist space in the social and professional settings.  As a teacher, I can't help but see a glimpse of my own students in the powerful voices of these sisters.


Our day started with Comprehensive Sexuality Education for Youth organised by UN Girls Education Initiative.  We were introduced to how different parts of the world are embedding the principals of the UNESCO guidance.  


In the Caribbean we have the HFLE - Caribbean CSE which has a number of challenges on it's implementation including adaption due to the personal biases of the educators and parental pressure, who challenge based on what they believe children should or shouldn't hear at their age.  There is this belief that if these issues are talked about in school, then children and young people are given the 'permission' to go and become sexually active.  

However the UNESCO guidance is very clear about introducing the topics when age appropriate, using age appropriate language. So the issue comes down to instilling confidence in the educators to know what they teaching to the next generation.  

It was interesting hearing how important it is for subject specialists to be employed or upskilled to be able to teach CSE confidently and not to 'tag it on' to teachers who may be subject specialists of another curriculum area.  It was good to hear this stated in this global forum as it is one of the key issues we are challenging in the UK, with non-subject specialists being 'dropped' into new subjects without training or space to get familiar with the new subject area.  This is often due to the teacher supply crisis, but this is combined with devaluation of 'soft' subjects in favour of the English Baccalaureate subjects and adverse management practices by senior leaders.

As a trained PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education Teacher) I know how important it is to be able to address 'controversial' topics in a safe, trusting space with young people while balancing it with information and the ability to ask and answer questions.

The UK has recently concluded a review of our PSHE/Sex and Relationships Curriculum for both primary and secondary schools and it is believed that the new guidance will develop understanding of coercive behaviour, consent, same sex relationships and body image.  However the concern is also about parents choosing to opt their children out on religious or cultural reasons.  But what educators have found is that the children and young people themselves, want to be involved in the lessons, leading to a conflict between children's rights and parental rights.

Intersectional identities must be recognised, especially in the CSE/PSHE/SRE curriculum, we can't aim towards a "genderless" curriculum (as one speaker was calling for) because different identities have different needs and to ignore these to create a homogenous scheme of work can end up alienating the very students we need to reach. For example a lesbian girl has different sexual health needs than a heterosexual girl with mobility issues.

A sticking point appears to be the reference to same sex and gender identity visibility in CSE.  Fortunately in the UK we have an 'unusual' ally in the Church of England who have issued guidance to all church schools (the majority of UK state schools) to say that God created us all in his image and therefore it is the Christian mission to love ALL of God's children. The document called 'Valuing All God's Children' when combined with the Church of England response to SRE Review 2018 gives a strong steer from the national church, towards inclusivity.

One thing that became very clear, is that girls need to be taught how to own their sexuality and be taught that sex isn't just about providing pleasure for their partners.  That girls and women have agency over their own bodies and pleasure, and if this is not happening then they need to be taught how they can be empowered to make sure they have a recognised equal partnership in their future relationships.






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