All second level schools expected to deliver sex education curriculum with focus on gender identity

All secondary schools will be expected to deliver a controversial new sex education curriculum for Junior Cycle that will teach students about gender identity and other issues.

The revamped SPHE (social, personal and health education) programme is due to be published today by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.

It will require students to appreciate how “sexual orientation and gender identity are experienced and expressed in diverse ways”.

Teaching around gender identify has sparked controversy, with some groups accusing policymakers of seeking to promote a “new gender self-identity doctrine”.

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Last week gardaí were called to the constituency office of Minister for Education Norma Foley in connection with a protest over the teaching of gender identity.

By contrast, many campaign and civil society groups have called for a focus on gender identity as part of a wider need to promote awareness over LGBTQ issues.

Young people have also called on policy-makers to be give access to more information about these topics as part of a revamped sex education curriculum.

While schools are expected to deliver the State curriculum, their right to uphold their ethos or characteristic spirit is also protected in law.

Ms Foley said recently that the new curriculum “needs to be taught to its fullest” and that students “deserve to have access to information”.

She said the question of secondary schools seeking to opt out of elements of the course on the grounds of upholding their ethos has not been flagged by school managers “at any step of the way” in discussions over the curriculum.

Notwithstanding that, she said there was a provision for parents to withdraw their child from any subject which is contrary to their conscience.

“We are in an ever-changing world where we want to ensure that all of our students feel that they have a voice and are accepted and included in the school environment, and we also want to ensure that our young people have a toolkit to survive in the world in which we live in.

“The issue of what schools will and won’t teach has not been raised at this point, and the broad consensus among schools is that the curriculum will be taught.”

The move to revamp the SPHE curriculum follows a Government-commissioned review of sex education at primary and second level which found that the 20-year-old syllabus was out of date, too focused on biology and did not reflect the reality of young people’s lives or LGBTQ issues.

The 26-page curriculum specification, seen by The Irish Times, will provide 100 hours of learning over the three-year Junior Cycle for 12-to 15-year-olds.

It also addresses issues such as self-awareness and self-esteem, emotional wellbeing, use of pornography and issues such as sexual consent.

The final curriculum specification includes some changes from an earlier draft which referred to gender identity being experienced “along a spectrum”.

An updated SPHE curriculum specification will follow for Senior Cycle students at second level in 2024 and at primary level in 2025.

The Government has pledged that the new curriculum will be age-appropriate.