Sex education lessons are doing little to change teenagers' sexual behaviour, suggest studies published today.
One of the biggest studies ever conducted on the impact of sex education delivered by teachers suggested that specially designed programme aimed at Scottish secondary school pupils had no more impact on adolescents' sexual activity or risk taking than conventional lessons although it increased their knowledge of sexual health and marginally improved relationships.
And a review of research in the US and Canada indicated that pregnancy prevention programmes for 11-18, including sex education classes, family planning clinics and other outside school initiatives had not delayed sexual intercourse, improved birth control or reduced teenage pregnancies.
The papers in the British Medical Journal will fuel the long running debate over the value of sex education, the age at which it should start, the responsibility of parents and the role of the media and the internet in encouraging young people to experiment early.
The study of 5,850 teenagers in 25 non-Catholic schools in the Tayside and Lothian regions of Scotland was led by Daniel Wight, of the medical research council's social and public health sciences unit at Glasgow University. Pupils liked the programme, which neither encouraged nor discouraged sexual activity and gave more information on practicalities such as handling condoms and accessing sexual health services as well as trying to improve teenagers' negotiation of sexual encounters. But it had no more effect on condom or contraceptive use or sexual activity generally than other sex education.
The research team suggested that influence of such specialised sex education programmes might be less important than the influences of family, local culture and mass media.
British secondary school pupils saw personal and social education in schools as requiring little effort because there were no exams. The potential for influencing sexual behaviour through conventional programmes may have already been reached.
The Scottish executive said there was no single solution to the problems of teenage pregnancies "which are slowly decreasing but still too high". It would continue to work with parents to provide sexual health education and relationship advice in schools, GP surgeries, family planning clinics and drop-in centres.
The Department of Health said: "International research shows that countries such as the Netherlands that have good sex and relationship education and high quality contraceptive advice services for young people have the lowest teenage conception rates."
