Majority of students unhappy with sex education in Irish schools

The vast majority of third-level students believe the sex education they got at school was inadequate.

A new survey shows that 71 per cent of women and 63 per cent of men said they were dissatisfied with what they were taught in secondary school when it came to sex. Just 15 per cent of women and 20 per cent of men were happy with their sex education at school, while the rest were neutral on the subject. The research was carried out among 2,150 students by the NUI Galway SMART Consent team. It also showed that 70 per cent of female third-year students said they'd been subject to sexual hostility or crude gender harassment since starting college. That figure was 54 per cent for women in first year and 64 per cent for women in second year. Meanwhile, 25 per cent of male first years, 37 per cent of male second years and 40 per cent of male third years reported that they'd been harassed in college. These figures are included in a report called 'Are Consent Workshops Sustainable and Feasible in Third Level Institutions?'. Minister for State for Third Level Education Mary Mitchell O'Connor has called the findings "troubling." The research was timely, she said, "given that the National Council on Curriculum and Assessment is carrying out a major review of the relationships and sexuality curriculum." Education Minister Richard Bruton has ordered the council to look at a number of key areas in a bid to update the sex education in Irish schools. These key areas including consent, contraception, healthy relationships, social media and the internet and LGBTQ+ matters. Speaking on RTÉ Radio One's Morning Ireland, Minister Mitchell O'Connor said there was also an onus on parents to educate their children about sex.