A social media user posted a photo to X, formerly Twitter, of a supposed primary school Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) task for 10-year-olds, in which they have to match words related to sexual education to the correct definitions.
The user tagged Norma Foley, the Minister for Education, who also represents the Kerry constituency in the Dail, and said she “has a lot to answer for”.
Evaluation
Although this specific classroom activity has been distributed during Ms Foley’s tenure as Minister of Education, it was designed before she became the minister and similar content has been part of teaching guidelines for this age group since the school curriculum was revised in 1999 and does not represent any significant change to sex education.
The facts
In the Irish school system, Social Personal and Health Education (SPHE) was introduced as part of the revised primary school curriculum in 1999. The SPHE Teacher Guidelines, published in 1999 in collaboration with organisations including the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) and the Department of Education and Science, outlined that SPHE was added to the curriculum for a variety of reasons, including so that children can “understand themselves, to relate to others, and to establish and maintain healthy patters of behaviour”.
It added that curriculum content becomes more mature in nature as children get older.
The specific worksheet referenced in the X post is from a workbook called Busy Bodies, designed and distributed by the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST). It was designed for fifth and sixth class. In fifth class children are 10 to 11 years old.
The workbook was published in 2020, with edits made in 2023 – overlapping with Norma Foley’s appointment as Minister for Education in June 2020.
The first edition of the workbook appears to have been published on or before June 5 2020, while Ms Foley was not appointed until June 27 of the same year.
The page that was photographed and shared online was included in the version which schools used before the 2023 edits, and remains there today.
Another document available on the PDST website bearing a copyright notice of the year 2000 shows that the Busy Bodies workbook is in line with standards from the inception of the SPHE curriculum.
The document, a teaching manual of resource materials for fifth and sixth classes, lists physical changes in boys to be covered in fifth class including erections, sperm production and wet dreams.
These are the same topics mentioned in the Busy Bodies workbook activity, meaning that children in fifth and sixth class have been taught these topics for over two decades under Norma Foley or any other Education Minister.
The only word and concept on the photographed page from the booklet which is not mentioned in the document from the year 2000 is circumcision.
Links
Post on X about an SPHE primary school task (archived)
Social, Personal and Health Education – Teacher Guidelines, 1999 (archived)
Busy Bodies Workbook (archived)
Shellybanks – Fifth Class (archived)
Norma Foley’s biography – gov.ie (archived)
Post on X showing workbook on June 5 2020 (archived)
Relationships and Sexuality Education | PDST (archived)
Resource Materials for Relationships Sexuality & Education (archived)