Values Exercise

Before you begin talking to children and young people about relationships, health, and sex education topics, you need to understand your own values and biases.

This is important very because when delivering RSE we don’t want to project our personal values upon children and young people. The way we communicate what we teach is equally as important as the information we will share.

Children and young people are better able to succeed and develop a positive sense of self when schools are inclusive, welcoming, caring, respectful and safe. These environments support children and young people in building healthy relationships with others, valuing diversity and showing respect, empathy and compassion.

The statements below will help you explore your own personal values, and reflect upon how they may influence your teaching and delivery style.

Rank the following statements on a scale from “1 – totally agree” to “10 – totally disagree.”

Consider how you feel about teaching and talking about RSE and health education with children and young people.

• Period education should be taught before onset.

• Parents should be responsible for the teaching of relationships, sex and health education.

• Pupils should be split into single sex groups for any lessons covering puberty.

• I feel the more a child or young person knows they will be more likely to experiment.

• I am comfortable hearing slang terms used by children and young people relating to relationships, sex and health education.

• I know the correct and scientific terms and feel comfortable using these to correct and inform children and young people.

• I am comfortable talking about different types of families and relationships including marriage and civil partnerships and same sex relationships.

• I feel able to explore the choices available around pregnancy, adoption and termination of pregnancy.

• Scare tactics such as sharing gruesome images of STI can be a great way to inform young people of potential risk.

• I need to have outstanding knowledge and to understand all about relationships, sex and health education topics be able to answer all of the questions children and young people may have.

Have you identified ethical, moral, or religious differences which would cause barriers? If so, it would be a good idea to speak with your school or organisation to explore this further and to action plan more training to help develop skills for delivery around specific topics.

There is no one way to deliver RSE and health education. You won’t always have all of the answers, but it is important to know where to get the answers from to be able to signpost and refer young people should you need to.

Watch the Top Tips for Delivering RSE Presentation