Dublin City University (DCU) has said material shared with secondary teachers as part of a course on the roll-out of a new relationships and sexuality curriculum was not for use in a classroom setting.
It follows a viral YouTube video where a teacher who took part in the DCU course claimed that young people would be exposed to inappropriate sexual material under the new curriculum.
It prompted calls from some TDs, including Fianna Fáil’s Sean Fleming, for any such material to be withdrawn.
DCU has been running a graduate diploma in Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE)/Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) since last year, aimed at helping second-level teachers in the provision of the new curriculum.
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The course, funded by the Department of Education, covers topics such as self-awareness and self-esteem, emotional wellbeing, relationships and sexuality.
In the video, viewed more than 425,000 times, Tipperary teacher Mary Creedon said she resigned from her role as SPHE teacher in protest over being expected to teach “graphic” material to students.
Ms Creedon said she was “horrified” by some of the material which included a video of an illustrated woman figure demonstrating masturbation and an animated “sex map” of heterosexual and homosexual couples engaged in different sex acts.
The teacher, who has previously been vocal in her criticism against SPHE and gender identity, made the comments in a video published by the Natural Women’s Council, which describes itself as a “grassroots non-profit group formed to protect children, women and families in Ireland”.
DCU said any material shared on the course was provided only to the teachers as adults in the context of their broader education on the programme.
“It is made clear by DCU that no graphic or explicit material is intended for use by teachers in a secondary school classroom setting,” said the university.
It said the video “completely misrepresented” the course and the materials on it. On the back of this, the university said there had been a disinformation campaign about the course and what would be taught to children.
“This campaign purposefully conflates what is taught to teachers on the graduate diploma programme so that they have a broader knowledge of the SPHE/RSE area, and what is actually taught to secondary students in accordance with the national curriculum.
“It has led to targeted attacks on the academic staff who teach the course, with unacceptable threats of violence, misogynistic and homophobic slurs, and libellous remarks being made on social media, in comment sections on articles about the course and over email.”
Jana Lunden, founder of the Natural Women’s Council, said that “threats of violence or slurs have nothing to do” with the council “or any of the campaigning groups that represent ordinary parents and teachers”.
She said her group had “campaigned openly and in a responsible way to protect children and have brought the truth about the DCU course and the SPHE curriculum to the public”.
“The official strategy, which seems co-ordinated between the department [of Education], the NCCA [National Council for Curriculum and Assessment] and DCU, has been to label the video as disinformation and misrepresentation as they cannot stand over the truth of what was revealed in the interview,” she said.
Minister for Education Norma Foley said recently the video was “full of misrepresentations” and material on the teacher training course was for adults only.
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