By Sophie King-Hill, PhD
Editor’s note: This is a transcript of part of Dr King-Hills evidence to the Northern Ireland Assembly Education Committee mini-inquiry into relationships and sexuality education (RSE) on the 13th November 2024. This evidence focussed on three core issues in RSE. The importance of youth voice in RSE, RSE as a means to prevent child sexual abuse and harmful sexual behaviour in all its forms and the importance of working with boys and young men to support better outcomes for all genders.
A recording of the proceedings, including the question and answer session can be found here –Committee for Education Meeting, Wednesday 13 November 2024 - Northern Ireland Assembly TV. Kieran
Introduction
I
am an Associate Professor at the University of Birmingham in the Health
Services Management Centre. My research is focussed on sexual behaviours and
assessment in children and young people, sexual health, misogyny, masculinity,
relationships & and sex education and the importance of youth voice. Much
of my work is cross-sector, cross-disciplinary and centred around participatory
and co-design approaches with young people. I have researched and written extensively
about sibling sexual behaviour and abuse and led half of the research for the
Home Office and Ministry of Justice funded National Sibling Sexual Abuse
Project in England and Wales. I have carried out research in a number of fields
that link strongly to RSE, for example Incels (exploring online extreme hatred
of women), young men and boys and designing resources for schools with young
people on Relationships and Sex Education (RSE). I have been an academic for 10
years and I think it is useful to highlight to the committee that I used to
work within the third sector. I was the national impact co-ordinator for a
leading young persons sexual health charity, used to teach RSE in schools to
all ages and and prior to that I worked with teenage parents. These young
parents were some of the most inspirational young people I have ever met – and
this work demonstrated to me, over 20 years ago, the importance of
relationships and sex education and its link to the choices that young people
make. I am going to
focus upon three components of my work: Young peoples voices, the importance of
RSE to safeguarding children in relation to the prevention and early
intervention of child sexual abuse in all its forms and the importance of
working with boys and young men for the better outcomes of all genders.
Young
peoples voices
The research that I have carried out
demonstrates that young people are eager to be involved in the design and
delivery of the RSE that they need. By doing this schools and leadership teams
can ensure that the RSE that is provided is fit for purpose and supports the
children and young people in negotiating and making sense of the world that
they live in. Consistently young people are telling us that they are being
taught what they already know. They also tell us that because of poor RSE they
are using other means to learn about relationships and sex. The majority of
this learning comes from the internet. This includes going to pornography or
various social media platforms or discussion forums. These platforms and forums
can be incredibly informative and positive or incredibly damaging and negative.
This aspect also links strongly to the opt out aspect of RSE for parents. This
is incredibly dangerous. It does not mean that children and young people are not
getting information on relationships and sex, it means that they will get
information however this may be diluted off their peers or from flawed internet
sources. I would also like to highlight here that my research is not stand
alone and echoes a wealth of research from a number of fields in this area.
I do appreciate that tangible examples are
needed of how this may look. Leading RSE with young peoples voices can be
carried out by involving children and young people in session planning, school
policy design and evaluation. Participatory approaches also support teachers,
parents and schools leadership teams in understanding the landscape that
children and young people have to negotiate in modern society. This approach
works well and ensures that all children and young people can flourish.
Children and young people are not passive in their learning, they have agency,
and professionals need to work with them to ensure good, robust, realistic and
supportive RSE can take place that meets their needs.
In relation to this more work with parents
and carers does need to take place. It needs to be acknowledged that many
parents and carers are not comfortable talking with children and young people
about RSE. With this we have to be supportive and bring parents and carers in
to the schools to understand the research that underpins good RSE and how it
protects, rather than harms, children and young people. In the same vein teachers
and educators need to be extended the same understanding in a whole school,
proactive approach to RSE. Good, robust
and evidence based training is crucial for teachers and there also needs to be an
avenue for them to state when they feel they cannot teach aspects of RSE. As my
research with children and young people clearly indicates - if a teacher is
uncomfortable teaching certain sessions then no deep learning will take place.
It is useful to note that early, evidence based RSE does not encourage sexual
activity and abstinence education does not work, this approach fosters shame
and shuts down important dialogue. Good RSE has been shown to delay sexual
activity in young people by supporting informed choices. This is not only
echoed in my research but that of the Sex Education Forum, UNESCO and the
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for example.
Despite this evidence, education on developmentally appropriate sexual
behaviours in Children & Young People (CYP) is still fraught with issues
due to the perceptions of sexual behaviours and the position of CYP and how
they are perceived in wider society. However, it is vital to keep in mind that
CYP are entitled to robust and evidence based RSE that can support them to
negotiate the sexual world around them and make informed decisions about their
own sexual behaviour. Schools
also require flexibility when responding to urgent contextual needs of children
and young people - the sharing of pornography for example. Evidence clearly
indicates a need to be led by the context into which the RSE is situated,
underpinned by the perspectives of children and young people. Not accounting
for this can create inadequate learning environments and prevent the urgent
needs of children and young people being met.
Safeguarding
Robust, incremental and well planned RSE can also be the first step in combatting and reducing child sexual abuse, sibling sexual abuse and behaviour, child sexual exploitation and harmful sexual behaviour in children and young people. My research and that of others makes a clear link as to why robust, evidence based RSE can work as a vehicle for encouraging young people to engage with safe adults in their lives which fostering early reporting of experiences of harm and abuse. Inhibiting RSE is proven not to work and results in barriers to reporting and compromises safeguarding. Children and young people are more vulnerable when information, concepts and education in RSE is hidden from them. The school should be a safe place to raise awareness of what abuse is and to model healthy relationships. All aspects of harmful sexual behaviour and child sexual abuse can be prevented and recognised early though good, realistic and well taught RSE. An example of this can be seen thought the National Sibling Sexual Abuse Project in England and Wales where I co-led the research. This project found that sibling sexual abuse and behaviour was often contextualised in a dysfunctional family setting and that a large proportion of reporting took place when the survivors were adults. This was due to the lack of recognition of the harm that was taking place as a child. The study found that good RSE can support children and young people in this situation to recognise earlier when they are being sexually harmed – resulting in earlier reporting leading to more positive life-long outcomes. This is also strongly links to Article 34 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which states that ‘Governments must protect children from all forms of sexual abuse and exploitation’.
Boys
specific work
One
of the key components of my recent work relates specifically to young men and
boys.
My
research and that of others strongly indicates a need for sexual violence
prevention strategies that directly engage with young men and boys to reduce
violence against women and children by facilitating the inclusion of their
voices. Working with young men and boys appears to be the solution when aiming
to reduce sexual and gender based violence and negative outcomes for young men
and boys. Toxic influencers have gained traction of late – negatively
influencing young men and boys – which tells us, as a society we have failed our
young men and boys. In England for example, the Ofsted review in 2019 of sexual
harassment in schools found that nearly 9 in 10 girls said that they or their
peers were sent unwanted explicit pictures or videos, with nearly 50 per cent
of boys reporting the same. 92 per cent of girls and 74 per cent of boys said
that sexist name-calling happened to them or their peers. Since March 2021,
over 50,000 testimonials of young people's experiences of sexual harassment and
violence in schools have been shared on the Everyone's Invited website, this
includes all of the UK and Ireland. Despite this there is very little work that
specifically captures the voice of the boy in relation to sexual harassment.
However, there is a wealth of research that states that dialogue, understanding
and communication is a key aspect to culture shift. The Women and Equalities
Committee (2023) in England, Scotland and Wales suggests an urgent need to
directly engage young men and boys. However, in my work and research with young
men and boys I have found that blame culture compounds, rather than solves the
issue. Blaming boys is counter-productive. I would like to highlight, this is
not an apologist position, women are overwhelmingly beaten, raped and murdered
by men. However, a new perspective needs to be taken under the RSE umbrella
because what we are doing to combat this problem is seemingly not working. Young
men and boys need to be supported and empowered to be part of the solution.
Violence experienced by boys from boys needs more recognition. Consent
education needs to also focus upon young men and boys and whether they consent
to sexual activity, as this is not part of the current conversation. Mental
health issues in young men and boys needs more attention. At the moment no
gender is winning.
Summary
So to summarise, there is a wealth of evidence that supports
robust and well-planned RSE that is incremental from a young age. RSE is
nuanced and complex. The voices of children and young people should be central
to RSE design. Little or no RSE and RSE that is not grounded in robust research results
in long term, lifelong negative outcomes for many children and young people. Good, research based, RSE can prevent, reduce
and foster early intervention of all aspects of child sexual abuse. Good and
realistic RSE can create safe space for children and young people to both
recognise and report sexual harm. More training and support
for teachers is required. More direct work is needed for young men and boys.
This needs to be done with the well-being of all genders in mind and to
complement violence against women and children strategies that are in place.
This also has to be completed with a positive perspective given to young men
and boys to foster successful male mental health outcomes. To conclude, I would
like to highlight that it is the right
of children and young people to have access to robust and realistic RSE.
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