Sexuality Education Community of Practice

We had a wonderful turnout of twenty five educators from twelve different schools, arriving at St Anne’s Primary School to develop and share their collective knowledge of Sexuality Education Programmes. We had four fantastic speakers including Ellen Walsh (Roncalli College), Monica Moore (NCRS Resource Developer) and Josh Halkett (St Anne’s Primary School).

The purpose of a TeachMeet is to gather  together as Christian educators and pool our resources and knowledge together as teachers. Granovetter (1973) and Fullan (2011) note that strong institutions have many voices and provide opportunities for educators to network together for explicit purposes. Coming together in a Community of Practice through an informal learning system helps to support and provide a space for teachers to network and enhance their practice. We enjoyed the development of our new discussion time feature, which enabled participants to discuss content presented and ask questions for a deeper understanding.

Here are the topics that were discussed with a short synopsis and links to their presentations:

Monica Moore

Monica has been seconded for two terms to develop Sexuality Education resources for NCRS. In our interview below listen to the vision Monica has for this resources and the content you will find within it.

Please click on the image to open the video

Ellen Walsh

Ellen presented her Year 9 & 10 Sexuality and Health Curriculum and the range of topics they present. This is within the timetabled Religious Education time slot  and rotates every term, enabling the teacher to meet and interact with every student in the year level. Ellen began creating this programme by first visiting other Catholic Secondary Schools in the Christchurch Diocese and investigating how they were currently implementing the Sexuality Education Programme. From here she attended and completed the Understanding Sexuality Education Programme provided by the Diocese. This informed the creation of here programme which focuses on the Achievement Objectives of the New Zealand Curriculum, the  teachings of the Catholic Church and the needs of the students she has in front of her.

We were also provided with a explanation of the Well Being Programme that operates at Roncalli College to ensure that they are supported in any challenges that they face. Ellen has recently led a Well Being competition where students  shared an image from Instagram where a students is completing physical activity, with large student body participation.

Ellen is looking to connect with schools who are looking to develop their Sexuality Programmes in Term Four. Please email ewalsh@roncalli.school.nz

Ellen Walsh Health and Well Being presentation 

Josh Halkett

Josh discussed the development of Sexuality Education programme that focuses on the mental, spirirtual and physical well being of his students. A feature of this is developing positive images of ourselves and how we present this to others. An interesting question he covered was around social media and “What would Jesus post?” Josh explored the different images we see in social media and the messages that we receive through this medium. Linked to this analysis of social media is a focus on the spiritual development of our young people through prayer. Josh has recently completed the RE 502 Spirituality paper and links his Sexuality Education programme to prayer forms that can embed his positive message of self.

To find out more about Josh’s presentation please click on the links below:

 What would Jesus post?

We are wonderfully made Unit 2017

 Growing with Jesus prayer celebration 2017

Jeremy Cumming

Jeremy presented the issue of Pornography and how we can discuss this in a Secondary School context. The rise of social media and personal devices has seen the access to pornographic content to our young people easier than ever. Pornographic content is regularly used in marketing and music to capture the attention of our young people. This shifts focus away from relationships being about sacrificial love and towards sex as a commodity. We can discuss the four virtues of Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude with our young people and how we need to think about the dignity of the individual and the value of our relationships.

Pornography and the Church Presentation 

We have also created a Understanding Sexuality booklet for you to look at how you can teaching this programme using the Religious Education Programme and links to the New Zealand Curriculum. This is a fantastic starting point when developing your programme in conjunction with the Understanding Sexuality Professional Development we will be holding in Christchurch for 2018.

The NZC and teaching Sexuality Education in a Catholic School

Thank you to our wonderful hosts particularly, Marian Jones and Judi Parker from St Anne’s School. They provided some amazing food and a wonderful environment to connect in. Finally, thank you to Ellen and Josh. They are two amazing educators who have a wealth of knowledge and skill. We thank them for sharing this with our Catholic community of practice.