Tuesday 25 January 2011

Let's hear it for the boys - SRE and services must meet their needs

Today Children and Young People Now published an article about the importance of meeting the sexual health needs of boys and young men. In it they mentioned new guidance published by Brook - Young Men, sex and pregnancy. You can read the article here http://bit.ly/hP9KSI

Young men, sex and pregnancy commissioned by the Teenage Pregnancy Unit sets the context of a growing realisation that sexual health services and sex and relationships education generally haven't served the needs of boys and young men as well as they should.

The guidance provides a summary of the evidence relating to young men and sexual health, the views of workers and young men themselves; it also sets out 16 core elements which help in supporting and engaging boys. The most obvious is that we must like and trust young men, adopting a positive approach which is aspirational - and addresses the issues they want to learn about, setting high expectations for young men so they have high expectations for themselves and their relationships.

It sets out the importance of considering the needs of boys on the basis of varying attitudes and behaviours and proposes 5 tiers of activity that will help meet the needs of all boys. It concludes with some advice on evaluation and proving effectiveness, and four detailed case studies. Details about the guidance can be found here http://bit.ly/eyIFiU

Monday 24 January 2011

Katy Perry - Firework

I have been a bit slow to realise what Katy Perry's single 'firework' on her album Teenage Dream is about - when my partner was watching the video tonight on You Tube, I realised that the lyrics and video could be a great resource for working with young people about individuality, confidence and self-esteem.

The link to the video on You Tube is here http://bit.ly/eT0LBQ and the link to the lyrics is here
http://bit.ly/g8YItr

Wednesday 19 January 2011

Video of debate on teenage pregnancy policy at Battle of Ideas, October 2010

In October I participated in a session at the Institute of Ideas, annual Battle of Ideas weekend. The session focuses on teenage pregnancy policy. In advance of the session I wrote a blog for the Independent website called 'A Policy Obsession with teenage mothers - yes please!'. You can view the blog here

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2010/10/22/a-policy-obsession-with-teenage-mothers-yes-please/

The session was recorded and you can watch it here;

http://www.youtube.com/battleofideas#p/u/18/bMpqKViS0Gs