By Grant Smith, education reporter

MANY PRIMARY school teachers in Tayside are uncomfortable talking to their pupils about sex and relationships and often “tinker” with course materials to remove or change certain words or topics, a study has found.

Researchers from Abertay University, who carried out the project for the Scottish Executive, said concerns about mentioning some intimate body parts or speaking about homosexuality and contraception “seemed to stem from teachers not wanting to or believing that it was inappropriate to discuss the nitty gritty of sex with their pupils.”

But they found that teachers became more confident in dealing with issues after receiving training.

Also most parents were comfortable with teachers taking an active role and the pupils “thoroughly enjoyed sex and relationships education (SRE) and after initial giggles handled the subject in a mature manner.”

Researchers Jason Annetts and Jan Law sent questionnaires to all 177 primaries in the region. Two-thirds of them responded, although that fell to only about a quarter among Roman Catholic schools.

The three local authorities, Angus, Dundee City and Perth and Kinross Councils, have all recently rolled out an extensive SRE programme based around a video series called Living and Growing.

Most schools start their SRE programme in either nursery or P1, although more sensitive topics are often left for the later years of primary when the children are felt old enough to cope.

There are 22 topics, including the way bodies change and grow, where living things come from, being part of a family, dealing with bullying, body image, dealing with sexual feelings, pregnancy and parenting roles.

The Executive has been keen to promote SRE because of Scotland’s high rates of sexually-transmitted disease and teenage pregnancy. The latter has been a particular problem in Dundee in recent years.

The Abertay researchers explained, “Primary school teachers are increasingly expected to act as sexual health promoters in the classroom, even though the vast majority have not received specific training in SRE either as part of their teacher training or subsequently as part of their continuing professional development.

“The training and support of teachers is vital to the effective promotion of sexual health and well-being, especially given the sensitivity of the issues involved and the anxieties that many teachers experience in delivering this part of the curriculum.

“Tayside Health Promotion has been working alongside primary teachers across the three local authorities within its boundaries for a decade and has produced training programmes and materials that support the delivery of sex education in the primary curriculum and draws upon national resources such as the Living and Growing programme.”

Most primaries said they had received adequate support from their council. One head teacher said, “Angus Council is extremely supportive. Our health staff tutor is very helpful and enthusiastic and happy to support staff, pupils and parents.”

A head from Dundee said, “The authority has provided an extremely detailed programme to facilitate the sexual health and relationship programme,” but another warned, “There needs to be a clearer city on what should be covered, especially around sensitive issues.”

The teachers who deliver SRE did voice concerns over how much information they should give to pupils, how to deal with difficult questions and concerned parents.

One Angus teacher said, “I find it awkward discussing most aspects of sexual health” and a school nurse from Perth and Kinross said she had concerns about “what material may be acceptable to schools and parents.”

A number of teachers admitted to blanking out references on worksheets to a specific female body part.

The study found that most parents who were worried about SRE were normally reassured through the school’s consultation process. However, not everyone could be placated and many schools were forced to remove at least one child from class.

One of the few teachers from a Catholic school to respond to the survey said of her pupils, “They are very enthusiastic. They take home what you are saying, they come back and there is good interaction with parents at home.”