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A PIONEERING new sex education programme aimed at reducing teenage pregnancy rates, halting the rise in sexually transmitted infections and improving the quality of relationships, will target schoolchildren and their parents.
The initiative is being introduced by Glasgow City Council, Scotland's largest local authority area and biggest provider of education services.
Practical advice, such as opening times of sexual health clinics and how to say no to sexual advances, will be given to teenagers, while younger children will be taught about menstruation and body parts under the local authority strategy.
For parents, an advice system called Talk2 will be available from early 2007, giving them tips such as using TV soap storylines to kick-start conversations about sex, their children's sexuality and respect in relationships. Parents will also be invited to training sessions and given access to books and a website in an effort to take the embarrassment out of discussing sexual health with their children.
The schools programme, which will involve teachers and health workers, goes further than the Scottish Executive's current sex education provision, which councillor James Coleman, chair of Glasgow's Young Persons Sexual Health Steering Group, said "is clearly failing".
He said: "It is quite clear that, while there were programmes in place, we needed a new strategy, as the messages just aren't getting through."
Glasgow City Council carried out two key studies for the programme, gathering the views of more than 2500 young people and 1000 parents.
The study of teenagers' behaviour shows high levels of promiscuity among young people in the city. Of those aged 13 to 15, 27per cent had already had sexual intercourse and 34per cent had taken part in oral sex. Of those who had had intercourse, 25per cent said they had had more than five partners in the past year, 41per cent two to four partners and 35per cent one partner. Boys were more likely to believe that contraception was their partner's responsibility, and that it was more acceptable for them to "sleep around" than for young women.
Of the parents, 70per cent said schools and parents should assume responsibility for education on sex and relationships, with 93per cent calling for sex education to be the same in denominational and nondenominational schools. Parents said they were...