RESULTADOS Y DISCUSIÓN Tipo de servicios

In relation to the timing of learning about sexuality and relationships, this thesis sought to explore:-

a) young people’s expressed ideal age or stages at which they need to learn about specific topics related to sexuality and relationships.

b) young people’s perceived extent to which their learning about sexuality and relationships was timely to their needs.

The core questions asked towards these objectives were:

ƒ At what age do you believe parents should start talking to their children about specific topics related to sex, sexuality, and relationships? Why do you think so?

ƒ At what age do you believe teachers or others at school should start talking to young people about specific topics related to sex, sexuality, and relation- ships? Why do you think so?

ƒ How timely do you think learning about sex, sexuality and relationships at school was for you?

ƒ How timely do you think it was when your parents started discussing sexual matters with you at home?

The ‘timing of sex education’ was commonly discussed by the participants across all focus groups. All participants seemed to agree that young people ought to start learning about matters related to sexuality and relationships as early as possible.

They also affirmed that the younger (newer generation) of adolescents need to be taught about sex and sexuality earlier than the rest.

Giannella: These days they [younger people] should start [learning] at a much younger age, like 8 or 9, because students who are in Form 1 and Form 2 are much more informed about sex than we were at the time, sometimes even much more than we do now! We are innocent such as to say, in comparison. Even at year 6 there are girls already talking openly about sex. When I was their age I wouldn’t even dare pronounce the word [sex], I wasn't allowed at home. Girls’ School A - Focus Group 2: 571

The young people stated that a segment of Maltese adolescents start having sexual rela- tionships as early as ages 10 to 12. Hence, it was remarked in the focus groups, these young people need to be informed about matters related to sexuality and relationships before this age.

Samantha: [Starting sex education] at age 12 is definitely not early! Young people that age already start going out with friends.

Josef: And they learn a lot of things from the television too.

Dorothy: These days it seems like everyone starts going out at a younger age. So it’s like one tells you one thing, another tells you another thing…so it’s better that you would know

beforehand. These days children start going out even from age 10, they do! So better to know these things before.

Co-ed School A – Focus Group 1: 96

Two major perceptions were put forth during the discussions. About a third of partici- pants suggested a specific age when sex education should start. Generally those support- ing the latter argued that discussions with young people about sex should start as early as age 8 to 9 years for girls, and 10 to 11 for boys.

Maxine: I believe girls aged 12 should know certain important things. Boys would still be immature at that age and should not know about certain things. But many girls at 12 are already menstruating…

Madeline: To the contrary, I believe boys should know even more at that age because yes, they’re still immature, and so they need to know…

Marisa: …so that they’ll be aware of the consequences of whatever they’ll be doing.

Madeline: … exactly!

Kristina: That’s why I believe girls should be taught before boys. If boys are to be taught at 12, then girls should be taught at 10 Maxine: But at age 10 it might still be a bit early for her… Marisa: But the thing is that they would still get to know from

others. Speaking personally I remember listening to my friends sharing what their mother told them or what they read on magazines… and I wouldn’t know what they’re talking about because my mum never used to tell me anything…

Sarah: That’s why they should be taught earlier from someone like a teacher or parent and be told the truth the first time they’ll hear about it.

Girls’ School C – Focus Group 1: 445 - 471

The other two thirds of the participants argued that parents and teachers should be led by the maturity of young persons under their responsibility for education and care, be- cause not all children mature sexually at the same time. This group recommended that teachers and parents should be guided by the questions the young person asks as an in- dication of the extent to which s/he is able to comprehend certain matters.

Carlos: I think that the topic should not be raised with them [children] when they are still too young, I think. But when they [children] grow up, if parents would have done their duties right, the way I see it, then I think that thoughts about sex start coming naturally. It is exactly at that time when they [parents] should start talking to their children about sex. When children

start getting these thoughts naturally on the subject. So that then they [parents] can talk to them [children] and they [chil- dren] would be able to understand and learn.

Boys’ School A - Focus Group 1: 382

They also argued that young people should not reach the end of the secondary school years without having acquired all the necessary knowledge to face the challenges of their present and future sexual lives. The young people argued that by age 12 to 13 years (late Form 2) all adolescents should have learned all the basic matters related to sexuality and relationships, and these shall be consolidated with further detail and dis- cussions until age 15 (Form 5). Participants across all focus groups stated that learning ‘new’ things after Form 3 is too late for young people.

Simon: … [learning about sexuality] at school for me came late. Mark: It’s true.

Simon: …for example, they told us about sexually transmitted infections in Form 5 and that was very late.

John Yes, in Form 5 it was late.

Mark: …Many things [sexual activities] start from when you’re 13, so you should know about them before you’re 13!

Co-ed School A – Focus Group 2: 49

The participants also argued that sex education should not be left until a time when young people would have gleaned all the information from friends and other sources and become confused with myths, mixed messages and misconceptions about sex. The participants also argued that talking to young people about sexual matters at a younger age is easier since children have fewer inhibitions.

Bjorn: I would want my child to hear it from me before hearing it from anyone else. Like, I know the real thing and I’m going to tell the truth... Because...one tells you this, the other tells you another thing ... then ... he will start listening to different versions. I would rather be the first one to tell him the truth. Then the school builds on that.

2b. Young people’s perceived extent to which the sex education they received was timely to their needs

It became evident from the feedback received during the focus groups that the different participating schools had different approaches to when and how sexuality and relation- ships education started, what topics were discussed and how much detail was given. The majority of the schools were reported as having started delivering lessons related to sexuality, although generally these were related to reproduction, in Form 1 (age 10 to 11 years). All schools were reported to have continued the latter into Form 2 (age 11 to 12 years). In about two-thirds of the participating schools sex education was reported to have continued in Form 3 but the frequency and duration of PSD lessons, during which sexuality and relationships could be discussed, were heavily reduced. Only one school was reported to have included one PSD lesson a week in the students’ timetable during Form 4 and Form 5. Therefore, while school sexuality education started timely in al- most all schools, much less or none was being discussed when young people believed they needed it most in later years. All participants argued that school sex education should remain in Forms 1 and 2, but should be developed further into Forms 3, 4 and 5 when they start experiencing sexual relationships and hence would need more opportu- nities to discuss sexuality and relationships matters.

Karl: I think it’s more important that we do it [sex education] in Form 5 because let’s say you talk about sex to a boy in Form 1…he would just keep staring at you…while in Form 5 you would have already started experiencing certain things. So I believe it’s even more important that we do it now…

Stefan: He’s right because in Form 1 we would still be a bit young and it’s even less relevant to us, while in Form 5 it would make much more sense. But the best is that it would be spread out between Forms 1 and 5.

Charles: I still think that it’s good to start in Forms 1 and 2 … it’s good because at that age you’re already interested in knowing certain things. So it’s better if they start right from the

Mario: I agree with Charles in that awareness should be raised about certain things as early as in Form 1, so that we would be informed well. But I believe that lessons in Form 4 and Form 5 should be increased because that’s the time when you would start experiencing and facing these things in life and sort of … you would know how to face it.

Boys’ School B – Focus Group 3: 68

Participants from the only school who claimed to have received sex education regularly in Forms 4 and 5 complained that the information they received in the later years was more intended for much younger children. Hence they were still discussing the same basic information they had learnt earlier (with a different teacher).

Kirsty: What we learned in Forms 4 and 5 should have been discussed in Form 1 and 2. We should have done something more in detail in Form 4 and 5.

Girls’ School D - Focus Group 1: 644 Many participants did not discuss much about the timing of learning about sexuality with their parents, stating that it was neither too early nor too late as it almost never happened. However, the few participants who claimed to have discussed sex with their parents argued that they were approached at age of 15 years, which they considered very late.

Debbie: They [parents] do not talk to me about sex any more. Mariella: May be they did in the beginning, when I was still too

young. Now whatever they say is pretty useless…because now we know most of it. Because this is not just like finding out.

Debbie: Because it’s like what parents tell you it’s a bit late be- cause by that time you would have already heard it all from friends.

3. Needs related to the sources (persons) of information about sexuality and rela-