Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (WDGPH) has put its support behind the Ministry of Education’s revised health and physical education curriculum for Grades 1 to 12.
One of the factors driving the implementation of the new sex ed curriculum is ease of communication, Rita Sethi, director of community health and wellness at WDGPH, told the Advertiser in an interview.
“Kids are on their phone … and have access to the internet and all of that information … there’s a lot of good information on the internet, but there’s a lot of misinformation on the internet,” said Sethi.
“So let’s give these kids an opportunity to learn about some really important aspects of life that will get them through their entire life in a way that they’re getting information correctly the first time.”
A report presented at the WDGPH board meeting on Sept. 9 indicates the discussion of healthy relationships and anatomy in Grade 1 is an area of parental concern.
But that is one change Sethi said is important.
“When we talk about healthy relationships in Grade 1 we’re not talking about a lover’s type of relationship, we’re more talking about … what does it feel (like) to have a friend, what does a good friend feel like versus the bullying or someone that’s not such a good friend,” she explained.
“The earlier we can get kids to understand what is a good relationship, the better off they are to have strong and healthy relationships as they grow older.”
Sethi said it’s healthier to talk about “the body part as the body part” rather than making up special names for anatomy.
“You don’t make it taboo because it is just your body and it just makes people more comfortable about it,” she said.
“In Grade 1 it’s important because it sort of builds the foundations to the next sort of lessons that come later on in years.”
One of those lessons will be in Grade 7 when students learn about anal and oral sex, another point of parental concern brought up in the report.
“A lot of kids are having anal and oral sex and saying they’re not having sex, they’re not sexually active, they don’t see it as sex,” Sethi said.
“It is as important as sexual intercourse is, because there’s a lot of implications associated with it both from the social-emotional perspective as well as from the physical perspective, and so kids need to learn that before they actually start to engage or experiment with their bodies.”
WDGPH’s role in the implementation of the new curriculum is to be a support for schools and the families.
“We have no ability to govern what the school boards teach or don’t teach, nor do we have any ability to give direction to the school board in that regard,” Sethi said.
After approval at last week’s board meeting, WDGPH sent a letter to the Ministry of Education and to area school boards stating its support for the revised curriculum and indicating school boards and parents are welcome to contact public health for support.
“We would try to help support parents … as well as also give them some tips and suggestions around how to work with the school board to ensure that their needs are met, as well as the school board, in regard to making sure that their children get taught the way they want them to be taught,” Sethi said.
She added the health unit could work with teachers to ensure they understand the curriculum and how to teach it to their age group of children.
UGDSB superintendent of education Gary Slater said the board is in the preliminary stages of setting up meetings with public health to look at resources and see what would be a good fit.
“We actually have a very great working relationship with public health and in lots of areas, so this will just be an added piece to that,” Slater said. “Our curriculum department is very interested in the supports that they have.”
The Wellington Catholic District School Board may also use support from WDGPH.
“The primary instruction of the health and physical education program is by our teachers,” Tamara Nugent, director of education for the Catholic Board, stated in an email response.
“Public health is involved by invitation as an additional resource. Public health involvement must be respectful of our Catholic teachings and appropriate within the context of a Catholic classroom.”
