Untrained teachers struggle to communicate facts of life to embarrassed pupils, say inspectors.
TEEN magazines are an important source of sex education, according to school inspectors. As if to prove the point, Bliss today publishes a guide designed to fill the gaps left in the classroom.
The June issue of the teenage magazine asks: “Cringey or confusing? Relevant or rubbish? The big question is - are you getting all the information you need, and is it working?”
Its six-page guide to sex, it says, will help its 13 to 17-year-old readers “get sussed about sex”, providing the information that schools have failed to communicate.
The guide opens with a look at the debate on sex education and asks teenagers for their opinion on the classes offered by their schools. It then offers a succinct explanation of sex, contraception and sexually-transmitted infections.
“We’ve surveyed a lot of our readers and discovered much confusion around sex education,” said Helen Johnston, editor of Bliss. “Teenagers don’t know where to turn. We felt it was our responsibility to help.
“I don’t think sex education is adequate - that’s definitely the feedback we get from readers. Magazines fill a role very neatly with a non-patronising, non-embarrassing tone.”
New guidelines on sex and relationship education were introduced in 2000 and were generally welcomed.
But they are not mandatory, and the Office for Standards in Education this week said many teenagers turned to magazines for the information they are unable to get at school.
In its report on sex and relationship education, OFSTED found that girls’
magazines were “an increasingly influential source of information and have a significant bearing on pupils’ attitudes”.
Ms Johnston believes that this is a symptom of inadequate teaching, with teachers often relying on euphemistic visual aids such as pamphlets, videos and cartoon characters.
“Some classes have to endure the embarrassment of putting condoms on bananas, and others are shown videos, while the teacher sits at the back and pretends to read something else.”
Celia Duncan, editor of Cosmogirl teen magazine, believes that school-based sex education can never be fully successful.
In a classroom environment, you’ve already fallen at the first hurdle,” she said. “Girls always turn to magazines because they’re not linked to school. There’s a sense of anonymity when girls write in to us - there are no repercussions and no sniggering in the back row.”
