Skip to main content

The Relationship Pyramid

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 of at least 1 of the new cards.
- Then give out some sex cards (the 5 cards on the bottom of the page). Some people will choose not to include the 4 cards describing 4 distinct sexual activities some may just use the simplified card saying "Having Sex". Make your decision based on the group you are working with.
- Ask the groups to decide if they think these cards should be included in a relationship pyramid. Let them spend a lot of time discussing the question. You can also encourage them to think about if they believe as they got older sex may get more important.
- Encourage groups to feedback what they have decided, (I don't recommend you force every group to feedback, as some individuals may be uncomfortable). It may also be appropriate to encourage the class to discus the different groups decisions.

Finish the exercise by reminding everyone that their are no right and wrong answers, we just want to encourage people to think about what their priorities are in relationships. I suggest its worth saying that sex is best kept for a relationship built like a pyramid and that this happens best in a long term/marriage what ever your pyramid look likes.

Now to make this exercise well you have to know the cards well. Don't aim to make sure everytime you do this exercise you will get young people making the same pyramid. There aren't right answers to this exercise. The process is more important then the pyramid. It helps young people think and talk about their priorities in relationships.  So if you use this exercise be flexible and look at the cards you are using, work out what cards you will use.

Below I have posted a jpg version of these relationship pyramid cards and a word document version below if you would like to change, remove or add your own cards.

[caption id="attachment_23" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Cards for a SRE exercise"][/caption]

Relationship Pyramid

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A RSE reading list

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 teachers on the conduct of teaching relationships, sex

Sources and reading from " 5 cool things AI can do for your youth work (and what's coming next)" workshop

Thank you if you came to my workshop at NYMW 2023 about how youth workers might consider using AI within their work. Obviously there is a lot of areas we could have looked at. We only scratched the surface, especially around the ethics. But with the current attention on generative AI I hope it was useful. Below I have included both a copy of my slides and links to some further reading/research about the topic.  Slides Download a .pdf of the slides here Edited further reading and research list Atlas of AI (2022) Crawford *. A good book about ethical aspects Automating Youth Work: youth workers views on AI (2023) Pawluczuk . EU study into the attitude of youthworkers towards AI Blood in the Machine (2023) Merchant *. Who were the Luddites and why did they hate new technology  Here's What Ethical AI Really Means (2023) Philosophy Tube . Long form video essay about the ethical aspects of AI, especially in regards to the creative arts   How AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Bard work (2023) C

Review of Channel 4's Sex in Class

Review of Channel 4's Sex in Class from a relationship and sex educator's perspective. In this review I will try and bring my perspective as a relationship and sex educator to look at Channel 4's one off show Sex In Class . The show is about a Belgian sexologist Goedele Liekens  testing out her approach to relationship and sex education for 15-16 year olds at a Lancashire school. You can read some great overall reviews from Jules Hillier at Brook  and  Sam Wollaston at the Guardian   of the show. In this blog I am trying to focus specifically on my my perspective as a relationship and sex educator on Goedele's content and approach.  Goedele Liekens with her charges in Sex in Class. Photograph: Matt Squire The show starts with a pretty unsurprising statistic of " 83% of kids have seen porn by the time they are 13" (source not cited) and goes on to show how teachers at this school don't think current RSE is good enough and also gives some quotes f