A new sex education programme for schools will teach young teens about consent, the influence of pornography and about both sexual and gender identity.
The new syllabus for Junior Cycle has been finalised and is due to be introduced in schools next September.
It will replace the current programme which is more than 25 years old and which does not address issues such as consent and pornography.
Under the new RSE programme students "students should be able to appreciate the importance of seeking, giving and receiving consent in sexual relationships, from the perspective of building sharing relationships, and from a legal perspective", the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment says.
The curriculum specification says that students will be expected to learn to "appreciate the importance of setting healthy boundaries in relationships and consider how to show respect for the boundaries of others".
They will also "explore the pressures to become sexually intimate and discuss ways to show respect for people's choices".
In relation to pornography, the new specification says that "students should be able to discuss the influence of popular culture and the online world, in particular the influence of pornography on a young person's understanding, and expectations, and social norms in relation to sexual expression".
It says students should be able to "demonstrate how to access and appraise appropriate and trustworthy advice, support and services related to relationships and sexual health".
The aim is to ensure that students learn that some of the sexual imagery and behaviour that they may come across online is not a true representation of what happens in actual relationships.
Students should also be able to "appreciate the breadth of what constitutes human sexuality and how sexual orientation and gender identity are experienced and expressed in diverse ways".
In 2018, the Department of Education ordered a review of that programme.
The then minister, Richard Bruton said it was necessary because of the dramatically different challenges facing students.
The review found that the programme did not reflect the reality of young people’s lives or LGBTQ+ issues.
The current programme was designed at a time when there were no smartphones and Google was not even invented.
The new RSE programme will form part of a wider new Social Personal and Health Education programme.
The new SPHE programme has four strands; understanding myself and others, making healthy choices; emotional well-being and relationships and sexuality.
