RSE education in Northern Ireland is not fit for purpose or inclusive, nor is it delivered early enough, according to young people aged 16-20 who took part in an Ulster University research project into Healthy Young Adult Relationships (HYAR).
Launched at Ulster University in Belfast on Thursday evening, the HYAR research report, funded by the Medical Research Council examined the educational gaps in relationship education for a diverse range of young people aged 16-20, their parents/carers and youth work providers.
The research explored current awareness of issues including intimate partner violence (IPV) and coercive control, what a healthy young adult relationship should look like, and how to seek help when in an unhealthy relationship. This work follows from the research team’s previous work into public understanding of coercive control in Northern Ireland and their wider research on Violence Against Women and Girls in Northern Ireland.
The project recruited eight young researchers from the Lagmore Youth Project in Belfast to conduct the research among their age group, sparking conversations around coercive control and IPV and identifying the gaps in formal education. The project was also supported by a cross-sector Research Oversight Group of community and statutory stakeholders.
The HYAR project included a series of focus groups and one-to-one interviews with teenagers, parents/carers and youth work professionals, including young women, men, LGBTQ young people, asylum seeking young people and a mix of religious groups.
‘Left behind’
Findings suggest that current RSE provision within formal education is not fit for purpose nor inclusive. Those who identified as LGBTQ, those reporting with special educational needs and those not situated within the traditional institution of formal education (i.e. homeschooled), all felt left behind.
Although young people reported some aspects of RSE as useful, it was also perceived as inconsistent, delivered too late and lacking in engaging, relatable and practical content. Fundamentally, young people believed that not receiving proper relationship education may lead to normalising abuse in the future.
Dr Susan Lagdon, Senior Lecturer in Psychology (Mental Health) at Ulster University said:
“The experiences of intimate partner violence and coercive control are sadly not limited to adult relationships. When we published our 2022 research into public understanding of coercive control, it was concerning that the majority (60%) of 18–24-year-olds did not know what the behaviour was, therefore could not identify dangerous patterns or seek support in an unhealthy relationship.
"With the HYAR project, we worked on the basis that you don’t just ask young people to talk to you about healthy relationships, instead you get them to talk to each other. With the help of our eight fantastic researchers from the Lagmore Youth Project and our many project partners, we can now see that young people want more from their relationship and sexuality education. Through funding from the Medical Research Council, the HYAR project has allowed us to identify the gaps that exist in Northern Ireland among both young people and their parents/carers and work with the participants to develop the bases for our HYAR Intervention framework as a topic guide to relationship education as well as our future web-based app.”
Justice Minister Naomi Long said:
“I want to congratulate everyone involved in the Healthy Young Adult Relationships Research Project, particularly the co-researchers from the Lagmore Youth Project, for their very valuable work. The Department of Justice frequently sees the worst consequences of unhealthy relationships and it is right that we should be doing all we can to support victims of domestic and sexual abuse. However, I believe we need to intervene earlier.
"By the time the justice system is involved, harm has already been done and that’s why I believe teaching children and young people about healthy relationships is so important. This research demonstrates how young people must be educated at an early stage on healthy young adult relationships, intimate partner violence and domestic violence, including coercive control. I am grateful to all who have contributed to this report. I think it is challenging and will help to inform how we respond to minimise the risk and harm from domestic and sexual abuse. Dealing with these issues is a key priority for me and my Department.
"In partnership with the Health Minister, I launched the new Domestic and Sexual Abuse Strategy in September, which will take forward a range of work to protect and support victims, and to address abusive behaviours, which will benefit all victims of domestic and sexual abuse. We need to change public attitudes so that everyone in society recognises that domestic abuse is wrong and takes a stand against it.”
Looking ahead
Considering what intervention is required, the young people reported that having a strong sense of self and knowing what ‘real’ relationships look like is important for building the foundations of their future healthy relationships.
The young people believe that those charged with the delivery of RSE should be knowledgeable, confident and prepared to discuss healthy and unhealthy relationships openly and honestly. Participants also highlighted the consideration of technology as an assistant to RSE information and awareness among young people moving forward.
Alongside a detailed intervention framework published within the research, the HYAR project includes a web-based app, which would host information and tools to support healthy relationship education. Designed in partnership with Inclutech Ltd, the HYAR app was developed in conjunction with the young people to act as a guide to delivering safe and healthy relationship education.
The HYAR project partners include Lagmore Youth, Women’s Aid Federation, Barnardo’s NI, HereNI, CaraFriend, The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment, Department of Justice, Public Health Agency and Inclutech.
HYAR Research Findings Summary
- While a gap in young people’s knowledge and understanding of coercive control was identified, so too was their eagerness to learn about the signs of healthy and unhealthy relationships.
- Many young people, in particular young men, are unaware of services available for young victims of abuse.
- Young people provided insight into what their support networks look like, sharing how they were most likely to confide in or seek help from a friend, youth worker or family member and in some cases, even strangers. These findings further support the notion that a whole community approach to awareness and education is needed.
- Healthy relationship education should be fun, enthusiastic and everywhere. Young people see the benefits of having RSE in school, but also within youth organisations and groups. They thought that sometimes it’s acceptable to speak to males and females separately and then bring everyone together, however, whichever dynamic is chosen should be the one that maximises engagement for the group in question.
- Most parents/ carers did not demonstrate knowledge, confidence, or clarity in their understanding of coercive control or healthy and unhealthy relationships.
- Parents/carers were keen to develop their understanding of coercive control so that they could keep their young people safe and communicate better with them.
- Some parents/carers questioned whether coercive control could happen in young people’s relationships and others wondered if parent-child relationships could be coercive.
- Parents/ carers discussed the possible barriers to recognising coercive control, among which was generational gaps between parents/ carers and young people, cultural conditioning and social influences which discouraged communication or disclosure of what happens in the family or intimate relationships. Some parents/carers wondered if modelling unhealthy relationships in the family of origin was a key contributor to the acceptance of coercive control as normal behaviour.
- Most parents/carers had not received any formal education on coercive control or understanding and responding to young people’s intimate relationships. All parents/carers advocated the need to develop multimodality education and awareness raising for parents/carers, young people, professionals and the general public around these topics.
- Youth work professionals felt that both parents and young people struggle to identify and recognise coercive control, especially within their own relationships.
- Increasing parents’ knowledge of coercive control and equipping them with the confidence to approach and navigate conversations relating to this with their children were perceived by professionals as being key parental training needs.
- Professionals were keen to improve their ability to identify instances of coercive control and navigate disclosures through profession specific training. Clarification on the scope of their role in relation to disclosures was also deemed necessary.