Teachers have to "tread warily", Alan McKenzie of the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association tells The Scotsman. "There is a reluctance to deliver sex education because of the sensitivities and there is a degree of nervousness about parents' views," he says.
A recent survey by the UK Youth Parliament found that half of young people had not been taught about teenage pregnancy or how to use a condom and would not know where to find their local sexual health clinic.
Yet teenager Sarah Robertson tells the paper she'd found a sex education lesson, in which pupils put condoms on a plastic penis, embarrassing and unnecessary. "The whole class was mortified and in hysterics," she says. Pity the teacher. Another lesson required pupils to write slang for sexual acts. Sarah explains: "One boy made up words for a joke and the teacher didn't realise and was reading them out."
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