Strips upset Miss Bartlett

Press, 18 October 1976, Page 2

Strips upset Miss Bartlett

PA Hamilton A series of film strips for sex education in schools includes “illegal instruction in contraception," according to the anti-pornography campaigner, Miss Patricia Bartlett.

However, Education Department officials deny this, saying that her allegation cannot be established unless tested in the courts. Miss Bartlett said the strips were listed in the “Education Gazette” as available from lending libraries — inspite of assurances that sex education programmes would not be introduced in schools before the report of the Royal Commission on Sterilisation, Contraception, and Abortion.

She said the assurances had been given to the commission by the DirectorGeneral of Education (Mr W. Rennick). One of the strips, available for teaching children between 13 and 15, she said, was believed to include instruction in the use of contraceptives — illegal, for children under 16.

I The strips, a set of six, I are entitled “Love and the facts of life”, “Learning about love and sex”, “Growing up, from childhood to maturity”, “Having a baby — the miracle of creation”, “Understanding your love feelings”, and “Who am I? the search for self.”

The “Who am I?” strip concludes with 12 frames about contraception. The “Gazette” says the strips must be ordered as a set, and are not available separately. It recommends that they be previewed before use. Miss Bartlett said there was no way in which such a film strip could be used without instruction—“ Otherwise, why have them at all?” She said she was not impressed with suggestions that the strips be previewed, even by parents. “If the parents of 1976 agree to the use of this material, will they be deciding for the parents of following years? I’d like to know what provision will be made for parents who don’t want their children to see the strips.

“It is a funny situation when the Director-General of Education has told the chairman of the Royal Commission on Sterilisation, Contraception, and Abortion that no sex-education syllabus would be introduced into schools until the commission had reported its findings to the House.

“It would seem the Education Department would like the school health syllabus to include instruction in contraception.” The acting superintendent of curriculum development with the Education Department (Mr D. J. Francis) said the strips were still pictures in cartoon form, with a sound track. Whether the set included instruction in contraception was something individual controlling authorities — school boards and committees — had to decide in developing their own human relationships courses. He said he was certain that any school aware of the worry that such material might cause would ensure adequate previews, and hold discussions with parents. If there was any likelihood of

the material being “misconstrued,” it would not be shown. The 12-frame section on contraception was preceded by a panel stating that its use was optional. The 12 frames contained “minimal” information about contraception, but only the law could test whether this was illegal, he said.