Esteem

Have you ever felt like you were talking to someone about something important, but they weren’t really listening? Or have you ever explained something clearly on a Zoom call, only to be told you were muted the whole time?

Consent is a key foundation for relationships and sex education (RSE). However, it can be a tricky topic to get right with teenagers, so that they are actually learning what it means to them. Young people really want to explore consent in practice, especially grey areas and methods of communication.

Our tiny primary school team (just one full-time and one part-time worker) put in an enormous amount of work in the 2022/23 academic year visiting 6 different schools with multiple lessons reaching 1,591 primary-aged children.

In the summer term, acet UK was asked to submit evidence to the English government’s Department for Education (DfE) for their review of the statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) guidance for schools. We were given very little information about how exactly the review process was going to be completed but the key request for this process was for stakeholders to submit evidence-based recommendations for how the current guidance could be improved. 

International Youth Skills Day this Saturday is a day to celebrate the skills of young people. But, if you look at the media landscape, it may be surprising, and a valid question in response to this could be: 'what skills?'

I say this also as someone who technically is among the definitions of today’s generation of youth – Generation Z (Gen-Z), albeit the older end of their spectrum.

This year’s theme for RSE Day is ‘Let’s Launch into Kindness’ and I believe it is a well-selected theme.

As an RSE educator delivering a range of topics to a range of students from a range of age groups and schools, I feel that kindness is at the heart of healthy relationships and is a key ingredient, as a guide, in making healthy decisions around relationships and sex.

St Vitalis of Assisi is a lesser-known saint in the Christian tradition. He is often associated with those who are physically suffering, especially in relation to problems with the genitals.

Saints’ days do not form a core part of many Christians’ lives and, with over 10,000 saints (depending on who is counting), it may seem strange for a relationships and sex education charity to write a blog about one!

But the tradition of Saints’ days points to a deeper aspect of faith that connects faith with the full spectrum of human existence.