Sheffield is ranked the 'second worst' for sex education in a survey of UK cities

Superdrug’s new study claims to have found where in the UK schools are providing the ‘worst sex education’ with Sheffield ranking as ‘second worst’ with 80.46 per cent of participants surveyed from the city claiming their sex education was ‘basic’ or ‘poor’.

Sexual health experts at Superdrug conducted a survey of 2,000 sexually active adults from across the UK, exploring the impact of stigma around sexually transmitted infections and how education may play a role in this.

A Superdrug spokesman said: “With hundreds of years of stigmatisation and poor education to overcome, it is no surprise that STIs can greatly impact people’s everyday lives beyond physical symptoms.”

But Sheffield residents need not feel too bad because overall 72 per cent of people in the UK feel their sex education at school was inadequate, describing it as ‘very basic’ or ‘poor’, with only 11 per cent overall feeling their sex education was ‘good’ or ‘excellent’.

Superdrug conducted the survey with 2,000 sexually active adults, in a campaign to help break the taboo around STIs and to help people openly discuss their experiences more.

In the study, Liverpool was ranked as the city with the worst sex education with 80.68per cent of respondents rating their sexual education as ‘poor’ or ‘basic’.

And Sheffield was ranked, according to those questioned in the study, as the second-placed city with the worst sex education with 80.46per cent of respondents rating their sexual education as ‘poor’ or ‘basic’.

A Superdrug spokesman added: “Liverpool stands as the city where schools are providing the most inadequate sex education, with 80.68per cent of those surveyed from this region rating their sex education as poor or basic. This is 12 per cent higher than the UK average of 72 per cent. Sheffield and Nottingham follow closely in the top three with 80.46per cent and 79.72per cent of those surveyed respectively rating their sex education as ‘poor’ or ‘basic’.”

Nottingham was third with 79.2 per cent, Cardif was fourth with 79.49 per cent and Newcastle was fifth with 78.13 per cent of respondents similarly rating their sexual education as ‘poor’ or ‘basic’.

Schools in Belfast provided ‘the best sex education’, according to the study, with 17.54 per cent of respondents in the city rating their sex education as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’.

In this same category, Edinburgh recorded 15.66 per cent, Bristol 14.29 per cent, Norwich 12.99 per cent and London 11.83 per cent in terms of rating their sex education as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’.

The survey also claimed that 91 per cent say that an STI diagnosis would negatively impact their mental health, relationships, social life, love life, general confidence, and even their career.

Of those questioned: 52.69 per cent felt It would negatively impact their love life; 51.70 per cent felt it would negatively impact relationships with partners; 49.96 per cent felt it would negatively impact their general confidence; 42.91 per cent felt it would negatively impact their mental health; 22.46 per cent felt it would negatively impact their social life; 9.08 per cent felt it would have no impact; and 7.53 per cent felt it would negatively impact their career.

Superdrug Online Doctor conducted the study with 2,000 sexually-active participants above the age of 18 who were surveyed from across the UK to explore factors behind STI stigma.