14 year olds to get parenting lessons, the latest Noo Labour lunacy?

[R1Geezer]

Look at 14 they should be learning the 3 R's not nappy changing. What next, governement sponsored impregnation centres so, little Chardonnay Moonbeam can have a real baby like her Chav classmates?

[sophie_1003]

Where has this been reported please?

[squarebear]

More practical lessons like this should be included. I would have rather learned practical lessons like how to tile a kitchen or change a plug rather than working out the area under a curve or what the word "Monday" was in German.

[jno]

if they have chav parents they're never going to learn it at home, so yes, teaching it at school seems the only way. What's the alternative?

[youngmafbog]

Tiling a kitchen, yes. This absolute lunacy. Looks like McBottle and his motley crew have really lost it.

[R1Geezer]

http://www.telegraph....-lessons-aged-14.html

[squarebear]

"The curriculum for 11 to 14 year-olds covers sexual orientation, contraception, pregnancy, HIV and other sexually-transmitted diseases, homosexual relationships, civil ceremonies and the importance of marriage. "

Sounds good to me. Should hopefully stop a few of them getting pregnant at 14

[sophie_1003]

Have just googled it, don't see the problem as this was happening in the school I went to, and other schools in my area, 6+ years ago, t's no big change in what's already being done in schools.

[sophie_1003]

Thanks for the link, that's the one I found.

[Prescott]

I have to say that the Minister for Education is very aptly named - this really is a load of Balls.

[squarebear]

You would rather they experimented by themselves instead of being educated in the subject?

[Prescott]

Two years later would be fine - but 14 ? Come on that is ridiculous, isn't it ?

[Ankou]

actually, some 14 year olds will have kids young, some won't.

if they all have learnt something about parenting, the care and responsibility required, the relevant health issues, financial needs, emotional and physical needs, the demands trauma and generally life changing and life-swamping (style cramping) impact that a child can bring, then this is a good thing. maybe it might make them more aware of the commitment and take better precautions. erratic parenting can cause ennrmous stress to a young child which can lead to potentially fatal health problems later in life.

so, if the option is we dont consider this and we have loads of youngsters unwittingly brining sprogs into the world that they can't coipe with and get ill and we end up paying for subsidiary care - or that we educate them a little so that they are more informed, and hopefully more careful, then i would opt for the latter.

[Prescott]

Well, I am obviously out of touch with modern youth. If they are going to have children at fourteen anyway then I guess it may be a good idea to tell them what to expect. I'm just glad that mine waited until adulthood !

[R1Geezer]

yes but surely teaching them how to parent will only increase pregnancy, I bit like teaching them to swim and then wondering why they go to the Pool! Teach them s3x ed by all means and 14.

[sophie_1003]

In the quote squarebear mentions it doesn't actually say anything about parenting classes specifically. All of the stuff mentioned is what children of 11-14 are going to be aware of or curios about and if not taught at school or home they're going to find out from friends or the internet, two very unreliable sources. The 3 Rs don't exist in education anymore, school is about dveleoping a child who is ready for all aspects of life, if the things mentioned in the article were left to be taught at 16 it wouldn't happen because children leave school at that age.

[squarebear]

I don't see how Geezer. I was taught woodwork but I don't go around knocking shelves up all the time.

[sophie_1003]

curious*

[Prescott]

Sophie -WHY DON'T THE 3RS EXIST IN EDUCATION ANY MORE ? It wouldn't be because this government has been messing about with the curriculum for twelve years would it ? As something like 35% of children leaving school are illiterate and innumerate, I would have thought that the 3Rs should be given the most importance instead of giving them "lifestyle" lessons.

[Ankou]

"but surely teaching them how to parent will only increase pregnancy, bit like teaching them to swim and then wondering why they go to the Pool"

i would say that teaching parenting would be a bit like teaching them to swim with a shark in the pool. possible to do it if you really want, but not without istress and perils.

[sophie_1003]

What I meant is that they don't exist in that Maths, English, Science and ICT are now considered core subjects. Stuff like parenting classes (although I still don't know where this was mentioned in the article other than the headline) are under the subject of PSHE, a secondary subject which is actually given relatively little time in shools beyond reception classes. However, these are needed because of the decreasing amount of education children are given outside of school from parents and community structures such as churches. Therefore schools are now given responsibility for teaching things that in the past would have been taught outside of school time.