Parents: Teach pornography dangers to primary school children

Danger: Parents want their children told of the risks of online pornography (Picture: File)

Parents believe children as young as five should be taught about the dangers of online pornography.
Two out of five parents want their sons and daughters to be educated about the risks associated with pornography as soon as they are old enough to access the internet.
A survey of 1,000 parents found six in ten were worried or very worried about their kids seeing violent or sexual material on the web.
Although four out of five were confident of protecting their children, the same proportion thought parents and teachers should take joint responsibility over the issue, as well as internet pornography forming part of sex education lessons.
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The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) survey comes amid growing fears over the explicit materials young people are exposed to online and on mobile phones.
‘There is no place for explicit materials in the classroom or school, even in the course of teaching about their dangers, but many young people are exposed to such materials on the internet and phones,’ commented Russell Hobby, NAHT general secretary.
‘In the face of this young people need to know how to cope with and avoid these distorted views of relationships.’
Stephen Watkins, head of Mill Field Primary School in Leeds said that schools should only speak to children about explicit material in an age-appropriate manner.
He said he ‘would not dream’ talking to young children about pornography.
‘We don’t talk about pornography, we do say to them if you see images of naked bodies and body parts then tell us,’ Mr Watkins commented.
‘You start at a low level, it is about raising awareness that not everything that comes up on a computer screen should be there.’
Earlier this month Ofsted called on secondary school pupils to learn more about pornography, relationships, staying safe, and not just the ‘mechanics’ of reproduction.
And the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) passed a resolution at its annual conference, calling on schools to ensure pornography does not become so commonplace as to become part of everyday life for schoolchildren.