ACCIONES EMPRENDIDAS Promoción de asociatividad

This thesis sought to explore how young people perceive the extent of attention merited to their learning needs related to sexuality and relationships. Therefore, the following core questions were asked towards this objective:

ƒ How often did you have sessions related to sexuality and relationships every year throughout the secondary school years? How do you feel about the frequency of sessions you received?

ƒ How long were sessions related to sexuality and relationships? How do you feel about the duration of the sessions you received at school? ƒ How do you feel about the sexuality and relationships education you

Participants in all focus groups remarked that their personal and social developmental needs at school were not equally catered for as much as their academic needs were. They believe that Maltese schools are too academically oriented and highly competitive in this regard. Young people felt that at school they learn too many academic subjects, much more than they believe they need to help build a career. At the same time their sexual and emotional development, which they believe is an essential part of their pre- sent and future life, is ignored.

Serena: We should learn about sex and sexuality as much as we learn about all other topics … because when we’re faced with certain situations we don’t know what to do…. Many times we end up really [emotionally] hurt, even just with the comments they throw at you…

Girls’ School C – Focus Group 1: 973

Petra: At school we should be prepared to face whatever situation we might come across after school leaving. It is important that we are prepared for the most important things in life, not just academically. You have to be prepared for every situation.

Girls’ School C – Focus Group 1: 98

The majority of participants said they had PSD sessions on a weekly basis in Form 1, Form 2 and to a lesser extent in Form 3 (ages 11 to 14 years). PSD lessons in all schools stopped in Form 4 and Form 5 although some schools organised one or two short semi- nars in Form 4 and Form 5 (ages 14 to 16 years).

Samuel: …We are given the information without having any time to explore and discuss that information.

Mark: And this we’re saying at Form 1 [age 11 / 12] and Form 2 [age 12 / 13]. At Form 3 [age 13 / 14] the time designated for PSD is reduced!

Christian …we had just one [40minute] lesson a week in Form 3 [age 13/14]! And we have had no lessons at all ever since.

Time allocation for PSD at school is very limited, and the participants argued that it is not being used in the best way possible to meet their priority learning needs. Partici- pants from all focus groups argued that 30 to 35 minutes a week dedicated to PSD are far too little in Form 3 and that no weekly commitment to PSD in Forms 4 and 5 is too bad. The limited time allocated to personal and social development in class does not al- low enough time to have a proper discussion in class.

Marika: The lessons are too short. They are not enough to raise a discussion in class.

Georganne: We have one lesson of 40 minutes a week.

Pauline: It’s not even 40 minutes, it’s 30 minutes. Five minutes are for assembly and another 5 minutes wasted until the teacher comes to class.

Eileen: And it used to be once a fortnight! It has only recently become once a week.

Girls’ School C – Focus Group 1: 960

Much of the talks and seminars organised at school seem to have been related to career guidance, smoking, alcohol and drugs. Participants in various focus groups argued that discussions related to the latter subjects were always the same – “once you have heard it, you know it all”. They perceive learning about sexuality and relationships as some- thing that changes with young people’s sexual development throughout adolescence. However too much little time is allocated to it and the young people perceived sexuality and relationships education to be in competition with other subjects in the PSD curricu- lum.

Bjorn: About alcohol and the like [drugs and tobacco] … it's always the same thing. However sexuality is always changing and developing and there are always new things to learn as we grow up. Once you know the issues related to alcohol, there’s nothing more that you can learn. You know the consequences and that’s it.

Participants from various focus groups suggested that sex education was generally miss- ing especially in the later secondary school years when it is needed more.

Robert: Whenever we require an extra French lesson because of the O Levels, it replaces our PSD lesson. It’s like they are tell- ing us that PSD is not important.

Alan: I can achieve all the O Levels. But if I don’t learn about personal and social development I might make a mistake and lose everything.

Pierre: He is right. Because you cannot just study about life, you have to experience life. So you need to be ready for it.

Boys’ School B – Focus Group 1: 51

The overall feedback received during the focus groups was that the young people re- ceived very few lessons about sexuality and relationships, and that those they did re- ceive were too short and far apart, and their frequency decreased when they were needed most to give way to other academic subjects. The young people stressed that learning about sexuality is not an issue that should be taken lightly by schools.

Keith: Everybody makes mistakes. But with PSD you make “grammatical” mistakes that can be redeemed. Without PSD you make mistakes than can change your whole life!!

Boys’ School B – Focus Group 1: 64

Clint: At school they haven’t understood our needs. We are not listened to and they don't understand us. What we're doing today [the focus group] was never done before at school and we have reached the end of our secondary school. There's too much emphasis on the academic subjects and they forgot to listen to us all these years. Sex education was unsuccessful in our school. It has not changed anything in us and we're already facing the reality out there.

Young people in more than half the focus groups argued that the lack of sex education they receive go unnoticed because it has never been evaluated. Young people do not sit for examinations related to sexuality and relationships. Hence, the school administration does not worry whether the related subjects or topics have been discussed at school or home or not. Young people believe that sexuality and relationships are life skills which young people need in order to protect their health and future, and is something which is not meant to be examined in writing. However, young people called for a means by which what they learn at school related to sexuality and relationships is monitored and evaluated.

Andrew: We never had the opportunity to discuss these matters [sexuality education needs] with anyone before. What we did today was superb.It was really good. Because you don’t just walk up to the [rector’s office] to tell him that our sex

education at school is failing. Nobody else before ever realised that we had never discussed these topics. Other teachers don’t care whether we’re discussing matters related to sex or not in our PSD lessons. Other subjects are evaluated. But PSD is never evaluated because we don’t have to sit for exams at the end of the secondary school as we do in other subjects .... when we sit for the O levels.

YOUNG PEOPLE’S EXPRESSED NEEDS RELATED TO LEARNING ABOUT SEXUALITY AND