Blindfish RSE

Sometimes people ask me what reading I recommend around RSE, so I thought I would put together a bit of a list.  Key (free) articles and reports  Young people’s RSE UK poll  Sex Education Forum (2018) RSE outcome variations due to facilitator differences  Young et al (2018) What do young people think about their school-based sex and relationship education? A qualitative synthesis of young people's views and experiences Pound et al. (2016) Review of sexual abuse in schools and college s Ofsted (2021) National and International RSE Guidance  UNESCO international guidance on RSE  UNESCO (2018) England   Department for Education full guidance on statutory relationships education, relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education  Department for Education (2019) Wales Curriculum for Wales guidance and code for Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE)  (Consultation stage) Welsh Government (2021)  Scotland  Guidance for teac...

When I write a new lesson plan or activity  I always ask myself "how would my lesson impact someone if they had... - experienced sexual abuse - been pregnant - a member of their family or themselves  infected with HIV - been questioning their sexuality - never seriously considered sex before (and I've just added) - been through the fostering/adoption system " When a write new material I am usually  writing something that I hope I could use multiple times with multiple groups and possibly over multiple years. So whilst statistically it is unlikely that every class will have people for all the above questions. It is an almost 100% certainty that most of the materials I write will at some point be delivered to all of the above.  I believe we have to plan for the 20%, 1%, the 0.1% and the 0.01%. I may never happen but if it did I want to ensure all my materials have a positive impact for everyone regardless of what others pressures that may have on their life....

Today I am sharing a free resource I have made to help teenagers think about the type of images they are sharing online and by direct messages. I class this resource as in BETA, it is just my first attempt at making these images and I want to reshoot the photos. Get rid of the cluttered backgrounds and I need to find a male mannequin to use as well. You can find all the images I use at  Sexting Images Resources I have tested these images in a number of lessons for 14-15 year olds. The way I use them is getting the young people into small groups and asking them to put them in order from most risky images to share to least risky. They create a continuum of risk. Then we talk through a number of follow up questions.  Which images would it be ok to share on social network? Which images might be ok to share by direct message, such as snapchat or MMS? Which images should we never share? Which images do you think could get people into trouble with the police? Which ...

Please make use of all these notes/links from my session today at the #SASHevent2013  Conference looking at the topic "Let’s talk about porn" Firstly my presentation Documents Sheffield Centre for HIV and Sexual Healthwith Brook, FPA, The National Youth Agency People and Pornography - A Briefing for Workers NSPCC sexting study Summary report of the qualitative study Full report of the qualitative study   McAfee The Digital Divide: How the Online Behavior of Teens is Getting Past Parents  Digital Divide BBC Newsbeat Survey  Men worried about Porn Sex Education Vs Pornography statistics taken from show episodes, they are currently unavailable but you can find useful stuff at their   sexperince website   Youtube clip   from Friends episode about the need to turn off the porn Books I may not agree with everything in these books but they have some interesting bits. Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain   William M...

Today I shared another resource listing the agree disagree statement I often use in Relationship lessons. I find agree disagree activities as a bit of a two edge sword. Sometimes they are great and sometimes they just seem flat.  I think agree/disagree activities work well if young people in the group do not all think the same. The true value in agree/disagree activities is the discussion it can stir up. The discussion is the point where young people learn things and develop their attitudes. The statements need to be crafted to try and divide opinion and stir up this discussion. When the statements do not divide group opinion then rarely will I get a good follow up discussion. The problem is that the statements that work well for one group do not work for another group.  The temptation is to try and pick truly controversial issues but I have had as much success with the historically controversial issues (abortion, porn etc) as the more s...

Fighting for love? I love dystopian future stories. I don't know maybe there it is the part of me that loves to watch how things might fall apart. From the bleak Joss Whedon Firefly and Dollhouse  TV shows or the amazing Metatropolis  anthology to this new trilogy of books and 1st film the Hunger Games. By Suzanne Collins this triology explores a bleak near future where America has collapsed and ruled with an Iron Fist the capital city holds 12 districts under its thumb treating them as slave labour. Barely able to survive, working back breaking jobs the vast majority of the population serve the few rich capital city dwellers. As part of the capitals drive to keep the districts under heal and broken they city forces each district to select 2 young people to fight to the death in a televised event called the Hunger Games. The games themselves unfold in a very similar way to the 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale  but the world they are set in is ...

I've put together a YouTube playlist of Videos that may be useful in Sex and Relationship Education. Please have a look and leave any comments or suggestions about the videos.   http://www.youtube.com/p/4A843CDAB280FDA3?version=3&hl=en_US&fs=1

Some people have asked for the training form to be put only so they can download it. So here it is. Esteem Course Booking Form or type the following into your address bar    http://www.dbiz.org.uk/uploads/text/49.doc

Today I am visiting the University of Chester, Christian Youth Work Course. I am giving a guest lecture to the 3rd years about the role of Sex and Relationship Education in Youth Work. As part of the lecture I used a Powerpoint which I have attached to this blog post if anyone wants to make use of my quotes and figures. Sex and Relationship Education in Youth Work

I have based this exercise on the Intimacy Pyramid from the Oasis Esteem Programme. I have used lots of the same words but have added some extra words and changed some wording. Simply the exercise works by getting the class into groups of around 3 or 4 and giving out the cards (holding back the cards that say sex). - Ask the groups to pick the top 10 cards that they would want in a good friendship. - Ask them to put the card into a pyramid with the most important card at the top. - Go around the group and ask them to feedback the top 3 cards in the pyramid. - After everyone has feedback, point out how similar people's top 3 cards are. Encourage the group that although we are all different we are all looking for similar things in friendships. - Now get tell the group to make the pyramid into a romantic relationship by adding 3 cards and remove any cards they think should not be in a relationship pyramid. - Ask groups to feedback the 3 cards they have added and explain the positioing...

Ok I wanted to post a quick resource that I have created and used with 6th Formers. It is a True/False PowerPoint, unlike the PowerPoints I use with younger age groups it uses some more explicit language and terms. All the images are royalty free and come from SXC.hu (an excellent website for anyone doing an kind of image work). You can use them for any not for profit educational work. I am happy for you to use this PowerPoint for any sessions you are doing. Please credit me If you are using it. I have reduced the file size and preserved my pretty fonts by making the slide show into simple images. True False 6th Form (jpg)

This short video is made by Barnardos, it is a mash up of videos submitted by young people about the issue of sex and health. It's great to see a big UK charity engaging with young people and getting their opinions and showcasing them for a big audience.

Hello, my name is Gareth and I work as a sex and relationship education worker in the UK. The main part of my job is in local schools but also sometimes work in youth clubs. This blog is about Sex and Relationship Education stuff. It is about a variety of things, my work, my thoughts, resources, policies and experiences. It is one place for me to put stuff into the public domain, maybe the people who read this will be strangers or maybe they will be people I know. I don't mind, I am using this to try and publically reflect on my work.