EVERY young person should know what consent looks and feels like. However, only one in five students feel they have received an adequate education surrounding consent.
This was just one of the findings captured in Let Us Learn, a report published by the Secondary Students’ Union NI (SSUNI) and authored by Youth MP for North Antrim, Lauren Bond (17), and which was presented to education minister Paul Givan on Wednesday.
It was inspired by a feeling among students that they were unhappy with the level of life-skills education they received in school through Learning for Life and Work (LLW) classes, including Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE).
When students were asked if they had been adequately taught about consent in school, 42.4% answered ‘briefly’, 34.8% said ‘no’, with 22.8% saying ‘yes’.
“Unfortunately, I wasn’t surprised at all - I haven’t had that education in school and I’m 17,” Lauren explains.
“Northern Ireland is one of the most dangerous places in Europe to be a woman and there needs to be some accountability for that.
“We’re failing to deliver what’s seen as a fundamental educational right in other countries and the report makes that abundantly clear.
Our ‘Let Us Learn’ LLW report was presented to the Minister of Education yesterday by author @laurenbondmyp!
— Secondary Students’ Union NI (@SSUofNI) March 28, 2024
“We will be holding the minister to account to ensure every student receives standard, comprehensive LLW education” 👇 pic.twitter.com/YFGBCKsHzO
“The only RSE education I ever really received in school was being shown a video when I was 16 which started off by stating ‘babies are forever not just for Christmas’ - it was really degrading being made to sit and watch that.”
The report highlights that many students feel they have had similarly inadequate experiences with RSE, which has been part of the Northern Ireland curriculum since 2007. A common theme is that explaining the concept of consent through metaphors and short videos is redundant and outdated.
“I think the last time some of the material was updated was 2007 - I was born in 2006, so it’s definitely concerning,” says Lauren.
“Obviously society has changed a lot since then and one of our recommendations within the report is to constantly engage with young people to update the curriculum, especially in terms of RSE.
“Contraception has changed since 2007 so it’s really unfair that we’re being taught a curriculum that’s outdated - that’s if we’re being taught it at all, which many young people aren’t.
“It needs to be updated; it needs to be relevant for today’s society to make sure that we actually are going out into the world prepared.”
Northern Ireland is one of the most dangerous places in Europe to be a woman and there needs to be some accountability for that
— Lauren Bond
Last year it was reported that the number of sexual offences in Northern Ireland reached the highest level on record.
The PSNI recorded 4,232 incidents between April 2022 and March 2023, an increase of 4.7% on the previous year. The number of domestic abuse crimes recorded also increased.
Lauren believes there is a direct link between the failure to appropriately educate young people about consent and the rise in sexual offences being reported.
“The Sarah Everard case in London sparked a huge discussion around sexism and sexual harassment. I realised things that I’d been taught to accept as normal as a woman were far from it,” she says.
“I didn’t realise what sexual harassment was and that was down to a real lack of education. I think it’s taken for granted that there are things that we are expected to know - and automatically know - especially around consent.
“It doesn’t surprise me that we have the levels of sexism and sexual harassment that we do in Northern Ireland because it’s a result of a complete lack of education.”
We have had business owners coming to us saying: ‘Thank you for this report, this has highlighted exactly what we’ve been saying – your generation really lacks those skills. We’ve been hiring employees that look perfect on paper and have great grades but when they start working, they just don’t have those skills that can be used in the workplace’
— Lauren Bond
The report also raises other concerns about LLW teaching, including young people’s concerns around financial literacy - more than 50% of those surveyed claimed to have no knowledge of loans, debts or mortgages. Almost 60% stated they were not confident about knowing their rights.
“I think my generation has been completely failed by the lack of LLW education,” says Lauren.
“We have had business owners coming to us saying: ‘Thank you for this report, this has highlighted exactly what we’ve been saying – your generation really lacks those skills. We’ve been hiring employees that look perfect on paper and have great grades but when they start working, they just don’t have those skills that can be used in the workplace.’
“It is really worrying to hear because it is placing my generation at a disadvantage.”
When the SSUNI met with Mr Givan they raised five key concerns: action on mental health, curriculum reform, uniform reform, student voice and the review of LLW.
A wide ranging meeting with @SSUofNI gave Education Minister @paulgivan a welcome opportunity to listen to the voices of Ellen, Izzy, Lauren and Luc who shared their views on Northern Ireland's education system.
— Education NI (@Education_NI) March 27, 2024
Issues discussed included mental health, school uniforms,… pic.twitter.com/KPudNBfQvp
In a statement on X, the SSUNI said it felt “that our meeting with Minister Givan was a success for Student Voice and we are pleased with Minister Givan’s openness to issues such as Uniform Reform. However, we remain concerned by his approach to RSE and Curriculum Reform, particularly about LLW.
“Flexibility for schools shouldn’t be a barrier to progress and all students in NI deserve direct, comprehensive and age-appropriate sexual education, regardless of their school.”
Lauren argues that young people’s views should be prioritised: “I am sick and tired of listening to adults talk about our education system.
“I’m frustrated a lot of the time because so often young people are not the first port of call for politicians to talk about education even though it doesn’t impact them - we’re the ones that are made to pay the price for their decisions.”
She accepts that the Department of Education, the Education and Training Inspectorate and exams body CCEA have “all been amazing at engaging with us and listening to us”, and attended the report launch.
“But I think the time for listening to us is well and truly over,” says Lauren. “They’ve had 10 years to do that and what we need to see now is action.”
