Pretending that our students are sexless

At least 12% of Maltese secondary school students have sexual intercourse by the time they leave school at the age of 16. Girls and boys have their first sexual intercourse at the age of 14. Only one in five of these young students used condoms every time they had sex. Very few students knew about sexually transmitted infections (STIs) although they were more informed about HIV. Girls knew more than boys about STIs and boys are more promiscuous than girls.

These are some of the main findings by Roderick Bugeja in research he carried out in local schools about the sexuality of young people and for which the University of Southampton awarded him a PhD in January 2010. Bugeja found that over half of those who participated in his research and aged 14 to 16 considered themselves to have been sexually active with a partner, though only 12% had intercourse.

Bugeja discovered that 60% of sexually active young people who had intercourse never used condoms. Only 2.5% of sexually active girls had always been on the contraceptive pill.

Bugeja says that these findings have "important policy implications. No method of contraception is provided for free to Maltese citizens and young people seem to be hesitant to either buy condoms or use them".

Bugeja also found in his focus groups with young students that while the majority of young people "believed they ought to learn about the Catholic beliefs and perspectives with regards to contraception... the young people demanded the right to be taught how to use contraception and that it's up to them to decide whether to use contraception or not".

In the budget for this year, government allocated €200,000 (€1.5 million is needed) to implement a sexual health policy which has only been announced now, when the year is nearly over so another year has been lost. I hope that in the coming months as the new national curriculum starts reaching our students, there will be the political will to adopt an effective sexual health policy and act on it. While it is good to consult everyone on such a policy, no one should be allowed to veto the implementation of an effective sexual health policy.

I agree with The Times editorial of some months ago, which stated that young people "have to be properly educated and provided with accessible comprehensive information on the methods available to prevent infection and pregnancy. Conservative social mores have no place in classrooms and while nobody is advocating sex, there is no point burying our head in the sand because teenage sexual activity is alive and well in Malta... The fact that the rate of casual sex remains consistently high and condom use so low means whatever we have been teaching is clearly not working and has to be revised".

We should deal openly with sex education for our children now that a new national curriculum is being discussed.

Listen to the teachers

A survey carried out for the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) about the College system shows that over half of the people working in the colleges believe that the quality of education for students has not improved as a result of these reforms. Over two thirds feel that these reforms are having a bad impact on the teachers and that the way they are being implemented is unreasonable.
Four out of five teachers say they have not been consulted properly about the reforms and that their voices are not being heard. Nearly all the teachers say that there are too many changes happening at the same time. Two thirds disagree with the removal of streaming and 71% say they have not been adequately trained to teach a mixed ability class.

Nearly half of those surveyed say that there is unhealthy rivalry between the colleges.

Another half believes that the college system has brought more cooperation between schools and more schools feel included. 70% feel that the system is making schools more accountable to deliver better results and support the college system. Two out of every five teachers feel that the reforms are necessary and have been long overdue.

More than four out of every five teachers support the new methods of assessment, benchmarking and setting in secondary schools.

But then at the same time, two thirds of teachers are anxious about mixed ability teaching and the new assessment procedures. Nearly three out of every five teachers do not feel happier or more satisfied in their work than five years ago.

When the college system was at its early stages, the Ministry of Education had promised that it would monitor St Benedict College and publish an evaluation of what was going on so that lessons could be learned, mistakes rectified and good practices shared. The promised report has never been published on. Has it ever been compiled? Government is simply interested in keeping up appearances when it comes to education and wants to show that everything is perfect and there are no serious problems to address. Will the MUT survey on the college system at least lead government to listen to the teachers and address their concerns? Because ultimately, it is the teachers who implement education policy. Wherever teachers are ignored and not treated as equal partners in policy making and implementation, reforms fail.

Evarist Bartolo is shadow minister for education.