8th November 2000

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The way Northern Ireland’s young people learn about sexuality and parenthood needs radical investment and reform, according to University of Ulster health psychologist Professor Dorothy Whittington.

“We need a more effective system that is uniformly delivered to young people across the province,” she said.

“Present provision of sex education and parenthood guidance – while containing elements of very good practice, is very uneven.”

And she called on Government to provide more resources to provide better, more effective information on sex education, sexual health and parenthood in the post-primary school system.

“We need to ensure that parenthood is something that is planned, rather than being a crisis in a young person’s life – and ensure that parenthood does not have an adverse impact on a young person’s future career and life chances.”

The call for greater investment in a more effective and uniformly available structure of advice and information for young people comes on the eve of the major UU conference into teenage pregnancy, scheduled for the Stormont Hotel on Thursday 9 November.

She added: “Teenage pregnancy in Northern Ireland is under researched and services for young people are not uniformly available. This conference will bring together professionals, researchers, and policymakers from the health, education, social services and housing sectors. It has been designed as an interactive forum which will allow participants to discuss the issues, to share ideas about good practice, and to begin to develop a coherent response to the DHSSPS consultation document published this week.”

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk