- Immediate Theatre teach students about assertiveness (Photo: Immediate Theatre)
Shannon lets Luke into her house. They should both be at school. Luke smacks Shannon on the bum and it’s not long before he starts to move in on her. He massages her shoulders and touches her leg. Shannon is tense. Luke tells her to relax and close her eyes then proceeds to touch her breasts. At this point the students yell, “stop!”
This is a scene from Meet The Parents; a workshop performed by Immediate Theatre, a not-for-profit organization based in Hackney which uses drama to explore social issues that affect young people. This scene is an exercise in assertiveness. Students are asked to shout out when they think Luke’s behaviour is unacceptable. The aim is to help students identify situations which they may find themselves in and to empower them to be assertive enough to say ‘no’ if they feel uncomfortable.
Meet The Parents has had notable success through its peer-to-peer education strategy; since 2004 it has trained over 115 young parents to deliver sex and relationship education to more than 3000 students across the borough. Looking at Hackney’s teen pregnancy statistics this unconventional sex education method is having the right effect.
In 1998, Hackney’s teenage pregnancy rate was 7.71 per cent, which was 65 per cent above the national average. But since then rates have fallen by more than a quarter to 5.71 per cent, approximately one in twenty, compared with a national average drop of 11 per cent.
Jermaine Samuels, 25, is a father of two sons and a peer educator with Immediate Theatre. His first son was born when he was 20 to a woman he was seeing at the time. The strain that the pregnancy put onto the relationship caused it to end. Jermaine quickly moved into another relationship which also resulted in his girlfriend becoming pregnant. His two children were born within seven months of each other.
“I made mistakes but I have to live with them. It’s been a struggle but it’s worked out; I see both of them at the weekend.
“There’s a lot I didn’t know when I was younger; I had to find out myself. Teaching students about sexual health and relationships will help them be more alert to things like STIs for example. Being a young parent myself I can talk to students about the reality of it, how it’s not as easy as it looks if you haven’t got background support.”
Artistic director Jo Carter, 45, set up Immediate Theatre because she wanted to establish a stronger link between theatre and the community:
“In my experience of working in Hackney I’d seen that young people, especially young mothers, were a group of people that had a lot to offer but were restricted in doing so because of child care. We came up with the idea of training young parents to go into schools and share their experiences while paying them a realistic amount of money so that they could afford to do it.”
The pay is good too; peer educators can earn up to £60 a class. However as Charmain Humphrey, project coordinator, points out, they have a lot of responsibility.
She said: “Before the young parents go into schools they undergo a 12 week training course. They’re trained to take classes on sexual health, parenting skills, sexuality, drugs and alcohol, self-esteem as well as communication and negotiation skills.”
This training has given Yessica Ruiz, 17, the opportunity to challenge the stereotype that is attached to teen mothers:
“I gave birth when I was 16. I’m from a Colombian Catholic family so abortion was not an option. My family was disappointed but luckily they’re behind me now. Young mothers are put into a category of women that live off benefits all their life. Meet The Parents has given me the chance to do something positive. By telling people my life story people can learn from me. I feel happy and privileged to be doing this work. In September I’m going back to college to train as a health and social care young people’s nurse.”
In 1999 the government launched the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, which aimed to halve the under-18-conception-rate by 2010. Hackney was set the tougher rate of reducing the rate by 60 per cent which means there is still some way to go. Nicola Baboneau, chair of Hackney’s Teenage Pregnancy Partnership, which works in conjunction with Immediate Theatre, says:
“Tough targets for reducing teenage conceptions were set at the start of the government’s strategy. There’s a steep climb ahead, but Hackney is making good progress and we are determined this continues. It is about giving young people the knowledge, skills and confidence to make the decisions that are right for them.”
Case Study of Rachel Corbishley, an Immediate Theatre peer educator.
Age: 23
Location: Stepney
Occupation: Part time sales assistant, full time Mum.
Age became a parent: 20
Why did you get involved? To make people better informed about the realities of being a young parent and the ability to make decisions surrounding unprotected sex.
Do you wish that your sex education had been delivered in a creative way? I was absent on the day that my school did sexual health so I didn’t receive any what so ever. I think you need to change your method of delivery to suit your audience and young people tend to have a short attention span.
What are your thoughts on teenage pregnancy and parenting? I wasn’t prepared for how much parenting takes over your life. Money is something I have struggled with and the myth that you get loads of money when you have a child is just that – a myth. As for the advantages; my son has literally saved me from who I was. He is my reason for living and is the greatest gift I could have been given.
Click here to see a video about the workshop
