Agenda and minutes

            In accordance with a previous decision, the Committee was advised that representatives from the Belfast Youth Forum were in attendance to provide an update in relation to the work of the Forum.

            The Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, welcomed the representatives to the meeting and they proceeded to provide the Committee with an update on a number of their campaigns.

Relationship and Sexual Health Education Project

            The Committee viewed a video which outlined the experiences of the members of the Belfast Youth Forum on the issue of relationship and sexual education in schools, following which members of the forum presented the report.

            The Committee was advised that the report entitled ‘Any Use?’ Young People’s Opinions on Relationship and Sexuality Education in Belfast 2019 had been launched in the City Hall in November.  The research had been undertaken as Relationship and Sexual Education (RSE) had been highlighted by young people as an issue and the Forum had decided to select it as one of their campaign areas.

            The aims of the report were to find out young people’s opinions on RSE in Belfast;  how useful young people find their current RSE; and if young people understand their rights in relation to RSE.

            The research had been undertaken in conjunction with the QUB Centre for Children’s Rights and Common Youth who had helped develop an online survey, designed survey questions, collect surveys from young people and analysed the findings. 771 young people had taken part in the survey and some of the main findings included the following:

            With regard to the right to receive RSE:

·        72% of young people said they knew they had a right to receive RSE in school;

·        52% of young people said they felt their right to RSE was not being met;

·        Only 23% felt that adults trusted young people to make their own choices about relationships and sex;

·        The proportion of 14 – 16 year olds saying their right was met (56%) was significantly higher than the proportion of those 17 or over saying this (43%); and

·        58% felt that adults did not trust them and one in five (20%) said they did not know if adults trusted them in this regard.

            The report then highlighted how young people described their RSE and, overall, negative word associations dominated those answers with the four most common being basic, unhelpful, useless and bias.

            With regard to learning about sexual relationships, the three most popular sources from which young people said they learned about relationships and sex were through friends and peers (62%); social media (55%); and lessons in school (54%).

            The survey then asked a range of questions about RSE in schools and how useful it was.  The vast majority of young people (86%) felt that school was the best place to receive RSE, yet only 60% of respondents said that this actually occurred.  In relation to how useful their RSE in school was, 66% of young people felt that the information they  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.