ADVANCED WELSH BACCALAUREATE INDIVIDUAL INVESTIGATION

A Comparative Investigation into Teenage Pregnancy in Wales and England

BTEC Level 3 Diploma Public Services

CONTENTS PAGE

No. 1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7. 8.

Section Planning Introduction Methodology Investigation Findings & Analysis Wales Ireland Conclusion Evaluation Bibliography Appendix

Page

PLANNING MY INDIVIDUAL INVESTIGATION

Title for Investigation Comparative study of teenage pregnancy in Wales and England What do I want to find out about during my investigation? Teenage pregnancy in Wales and England to see which one has the higher rates of teenage pregnancy and comparing them. I will find statistics and graphs such as charts, graphs etc. I will use government sites to get an accurate study and I will also use reports from the internet, both for Wales and England Effects of teenage pregnancy within the society in both Wales and England How different the societies deal with teenage pregnancy and its conception. What will the Welsh and England government need to reduce teenage pregnancy.

Where will I find the information? To complete this individual investigation I will use secondary and primary research. I will use secondary research to improve my understanding of the subject. Internet gather information to start off with and compare my information. Statistics to get data which is correct. Books Go to the Library and look for the relevant books to get information. Newspapers Local Merthyr Express and see the headlines of the paper and show statistics, Questionnaires Create questionnaires to hand out with relevant questions so I can have their opinions.

How am I going to present my completed investigation? I will present my investigation as a 2000-2500 report using Microsoft Word. I will structure my report using sub headings which will make it easier to read. I will also use graphs, pictures and charts. Planning Introduction Methodology Findings Conclusion Evaluation Bibliography Appendix

I will also use images to enhance my text. I will draft and proof read my document throughout. What help will I need and from whom? I will need help from my tutor for guidance and feedback on my drafts. I will need assistance from the public by filling in my questionnaires. I also will need IT assistance to present my findings.

Targets What I need to do IOLP Target By When 14/9/11 Completed On 14/9/11 Review Tutor supported me with my investigation and provided guideline sheets; I didnt have any difficulties with this. I had some difficulties with some ideas and expanding on them, tutor helped me overcome this. Searched effectively throughout the internet, books and articles but needed help to be shown what options were available. I found it easy to collect the information but found it difficult to combine this information to create this investigation. I didnt find any difficulties with this as it is my own research. I didnt have many difficulties with this, only from which format I needed to use. This part was different because a lot of the work I needed was irrelevant for this moment in time. Not enough up to date information on Wales. This also was difficult as my chosen country; England was linked with Wales so the information was very similar. I found this part easy and interesting to find out everyones different view. No support needed with this. Difficulties with how to analyse the results and information into a conclusion. II found this interesting gathering all the information

Find out how to pass Investigation

Mind map a subject to investigate

15/9/11

15/9/11

Learn how to research effectively

2,3

21/9/11

21/9/11

Plan what is required

28/9/11

28/9/11

Look for Information (secondary research) Decide on the key question(s) and presentation format

2 1

12/10/11 13/10/11

19/9/11 17/9/11

Carry out secondary research on Wales

20/10/11

20/10/11

Carry out secondary research on another country

2/11/11

9/11/11

Prepare a questionnaire (or other methods) for primary research Carry out primary research Collate & Analyse information from primary research Start putting the information together to answer the question

3 3 3 1,2,3

9/11/11 23/11/11 7/12/11 14/12/11

10/11/11 24/11/11 8/12/11 16/12/11

Hand in first draft

4/1/12

6/1/12

Discuss the draft with your tutor and reflect on your progress Make any necessary amendments to investigation Complete and hand in Investigation

1 1 1

25/1/12 7/3/12 8/3/12

26/1/12 8/3/12 21/3/12

I found this hard to get this in on time due to poor managing skills with trying to put all the valid information together I have reflected on my weaknesses throughout this investigation and I have solved these I have amended any improvements to my investigation Handed in later than planned but this enabled me to do more work and effort

INTRODUCTION

Teenage pregnancy is "contagious" between sisters (Researchers in the UK and Norway have claimed)

http://www.wwd.com/footwear-news/business/candies-rolls-out-teen-pregnancy-psas-3025820

This investigation will compare teenage pregnancy. Focusing on the rising of teenage pregnancies throughout England and Wales. I have chosen to compare Wales and England because both countries have been known for high teenage pregnancy. This will be shown a variety of evidence within this investigation. I will focus on Merthyr Tydfil within Wales as it is known for a higher population of girls with teenage pregnancy as shown on BBC News in 2010. The picture above shows research done shows that teenage pregnancy is an increasing problem and becoming contagious Research has showed "Sisters generally spend more time together than schoolmates or friends and so sisters are likely to be influenced by the behaviour of their siblings," the report said. Jules Hillier, the Deputy Chief Executive of the charity Brook, said: "There are links between low aspirations; deprivation and teenage pregnancy, but there are also a whole range of measures that need to be in place to reduce teenage pregnancy rates such as comprehensive sex and relationships education and easy access to sexual health services."

Teenage Pregnancy is defined as Pregnancy by a female, age 13 to 19, which is understood to occur in a girl who hasnt completed her core educationsecondary schoolhas few or no marketable skills, is financially dependent upon her parents and/or continues to live at home and is mentally immature http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Teenage+Pregnancy

This investigation aims to find out: Trends of teenage pregnancy rates in Wales Trends of teenage pregnancy rates in England What the each country doing to deal with the problem? How this problem affects society?

METHODOLOGY
For my secondary research I looked at internet resources. I chose to research information on pregnancy rates in Wales and England and how it affects the society. The main sites which I used to research Wales are: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/feb/22/teenage-pregnancy-rates-england-walesmap (I used newspaper articles to read about teenage pregnancy in Wales and England and the statistics of it) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/8534147.stm (This website was used to find out information on teenage pregnancy in Merthyr Tydfil) http://www.fpa.org.uk/professionals/factsheets/teenagepregnancy#yAtg (This helped me with the statistics of Wales and England) http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/02/23/merthyr-no-longer-top-of-teenpregnancy-table-91466-28216844/ The main sites which I used to research England are: http://www.fpa.org.uk/professionals/factsheets/teenagepregnancy#HjoG http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8531227.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7911684.stm

For my primary research I created questionnaires on teenage pregnancy and involved questions which helped me with my investigation by finding out about the opinions of the people of Merthyr Tydfil. The questionnaire was a good way to find out relevant information in order to help me with my topic.

INVESTIGATION FINDINGS & ANALYSIS Wales

In 2008, Merthyr Tydfil had the highest rate of teenage pregnancy between 15-17 year old girls in Wales and England. The average for Wales was 40.6. The second highest figure in Wales is another valleys district, Rhondda Cynon Taff, with 59.2. Rates of pregnancy in teenagers up to 16 years old dipped to 7.5 per 1,000 girls ages 13-15, five years ago. But in 2007 the rate has risen once more to 8.5. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/feb/22/teenage-pregnancy-rates-england-walesmap)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/feb/22/teenage-pregnancy-rates-england-walesmap Teenage pregnancy affects the society because it brings a social poverty stereotype to the town they live in and it brings a lot of stress to the family. This may be because a lot of the time the child may be given to the parent as they have to look after the child. This can cause a lot of stress to the family. Also, some families cant get used to the long term change to an unwanted baby.

As the map shows Merthyr Tydfil no longer has the tag of the highest teenage pregnancy in Wales. Merthyr Tydfil had a rate of 73.3 conceptions per 1,000 women aged 15-17 in 2008, which fell to 60.7 in 2009. This now puts it behind Blackpool (67.4), Manchester (67.2), Hull (64), Southwark (63.2), Nottingham (61.5) and Stoke-on-Trent (61.1). This graph shows the higher rates of England and the low rate of Merthyr Tydfil compared to the other places.
68 66 64 62 60 58 56 Teenage Pregnancy

Nicola John, Director of Public Health for Cwm Taff Health Board, said: We are delighted to see that the teenage conception rate for under-18s has decreased in Merthyr Tydfil. They created a scheme condom card scheme which was intended to make it clear to young people why it is so important to take responsibility for their own sexual health by exploring the wider consequences of a sexual relationship, this scheme has proven to be successful due to the big drop of pregnancies. Their scheme is to increase the availability of condoms to young people in Merthyr Tydfil by reducing the barriers of financial cost and access, to increase the uptake of condoms among young men, to increase the level of awareness and understanding young people have towards sexually transmitted infections and sexual health and to develop and enhance the skills of staff working with young people in the area of sexual health and well-being.

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/feb/22/teenage-pregnancy-rates-england-walesmap) This table shows the statistics of teenage pregnancy in different authorities in Wales This table shows Monmouthshire has lowest rate of 2009 with a rate of 20.7 and Merthyr is still the highest in Wales with a rate of 60.7 which suggests that richer area have less teenage pregnancy and more deprived have more. It also shows that rates have dropped a lot in Merthyr and RCT from 61.3 to 46.6 in for RCT and from 75.3 to 60.7 for Merthyr. Wales total dropped a lot too from 45.5 in 2001 to 40.1 in 2009. The graph below shows that teenage pregnancy has fallen by 4%, however, it is still incredibly high.

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8531227.stm)

Primary Research From my primary research I have found out that over half of the public that answered my questionnaires believed that they didnt receive enough education and information on sexual intercourse and the effects of unprotected sex. Through my findings, the majority of the older public said they did receive enough information this questions whether the government has neglected its responsibility to educate teenagers on sex? This suggests that some people blame the Government for this problem in Wales and feel like the government should organise an educational group on teenage pregnancy. For example, they should increase the sexual education throughout schools. Half of the people questioned agreed that teenage pregnancy is not acceptable and that in most cases, young girls and boys fail to communicate with one another to make a decision and dont seek help. From my secondary research http://wales.gov.uk/topics/statistics/othersources/childrendata/health/teenagepregnancy/?lang=en I have found out that there are some key factors that are somewhat responsible for teenage pregnancy rates in Wales. These include young girls having low expectations of education and good employment. Parents that are not educating their children about sex and themselves have experienced teenage pregnancy, they trend follows through. BBC news health claims (2011) claims that sisters have an effect on each other; more girls are more likely to experience teenage pregnancy if an older sister has also got a child at a young age. They claim that this effect was experienced if the sisters were of a similar age and from a poorer background.

The following table show the research findings from FPA in 2010 showing the conception rate by two different age ranges. It shows the biggest problem is with 16-18 years group but the rate has dropped from 2000 to 2007 but still high. Also the under 16 years rate did start to decline but has increased again since 2004 which is very worrying. Also abortion rates were up for both age groups.

Under-18 conception in Wales Year 2007 2005 2004 2002 2000 Conception rate 44.9 43.6 45.1 46.0 48.0 Number of conceptions 2,622 2,521 2,605 2,601 2,649 Percentage leading to legal abortion 41.6 38.6 38.5 38.6 34.7

Under-16 conceptions in Wales Year 2007 2005 2004 2002 2000 (http://www.fpa.org.uk) Conception rate 8.5 7.9 7.5 8.4 8.8 Number of conceptions 482 457 434 480 495 Percentage leading to legal abortion 52.9 50.8 49.3 53.5 46.5

England
My secondary research shows that teenage pregnancy rates across the UK have decreased leaving them at the lowest level since the early 1960s. However, the number of teenage girls choosing to abort unwanted pregnancies has risen over the past decade. Julie Bentley Chief Executive of the Family Planning Association said that the success brought about by todays figures revealing were seeing the lowest teenage pregnancy in England and Wales for 30 years is down to a dedicated strategy in England with a tried and tested formula of sex and relationships education, contraception and information services and local services working together. This may be due to other studies showing that the numbers of older women between the ages of 40 and over are now having babies. (The Guardian)

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/feb/24/teenage-pregnancy-rates-2008) Photograph: Tatjana Alvegard/Getty Images The teen pregnancy rate in England and Wales has reached its lowest since 1969, new data shows. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show conceptions in under-18s fell to 34,633 in 2010 compared with 38,259 in 2009, a drop of 9.5% in England and the UK. Pregnancies in under-16s also went down by 6.8% to 6,674 in total from 7,158 the previous year. Following a report from the Social Exclusion Unit 1998, the Teenage Pregnancy Unit was set up with a ten year strategy and action plan was implemented. The target was to halve the under 18 conception rate by 2010 and to bring a decline in the rate of conceptions to under 16s.

The aim was to increase the participation of teenage parents in education, employment or training to reduce their long-term risk of social exclusion. An Independent Advisory Group on teenage pregnancy was established in 2002 to provide advice to the Government and monitor overall success of the 7th strategy. Guidance was published in 2006 to support more effective local implementation of the strategy. Between 1998 and 2007 the teenage conception rate fell by 10.7 per cent in under 18s and by 6.4 per cent in under 16s. When looking at England only, statistics the FPA in 2010 reported that conception rates had dropped for both age groups in 10 years. Also abortions have increased. Under-18 conceptions in England Year 2008 2006 2005 2002 1998 Number of conceptions 38, 750 39,170 39,804 39,350 41,089 Conception rate 40.5 40.6 41.3 42.7 46.6 Percentage leading to legal abortion 49.7 48.8 46.8 45.8 42.4

Under-16 conceptions in England Year 2008 2006 2005 2002 1998 (http://www.fpa.org.uk) Number of conceptions 7,123 7,330 7,473 7,395 7,855 Conception rate 7.8 7.7 7.8 7.9 8.8 Percentage leading to legal abortion 61.8 60.2 57.5 55.7 52.9

Conclusion
I have decided to study teenage pregnancy, as it is a growing problem within society. Throughout this investigation I have found out how the rate of teenage pregnancy has increased and decreased throughout Wales and England but it is currently the lowest its been since 1969, however, the rate of aborting children has raised. Studies show that older women are now expecting babies later on after they have gained a good career and capable of looking after a child and are in stable relationships, that wont affect the life of the child. Wales 3 million according to last population census in 2001 44.9 (2009) 8.5 (2007) 53.4 England In 2001, the population of the United Kingdom was recorded at just under 59 million people 40.5 (2008) 7.8 (2008) 48.3

Population

Under-18 conception Under -16 conception Total teenage conception

Cwm Taff Health Board created the condom scheme to help prevent the risks of sexuality transmitted diseases and to make the awareness that condoms are now more openly available. This scheme was proven to work as the rate of pregnancies dropped.

England created a scheme in going to schools and local information services and informing people on sexual health and contraception. The government allocated 260m to reducing teenage pregnancy and, in 2009, ministers announced an extra 20.5m funding package for contraception resources. Throughout my primary research over half of the public agreed that they strongly agree that the government should do more to prevent teenage pregnancy from happening, I also strongly agree with this as the government can make a lot of people listen to the message they have coming across.

Evaluation
In this investigation I feel like I could of done a lot better in researching about teenage pregnancy, I would have chosen two completely different countries to Wales and England as it was difficult to find information separately on Wales and England as the statistics are combined together and is seemed to be run as one country, not two different ones. I feel like I completed my questionnaire well in the end, I also enjoyed finding out peoples different opinions on teenage pregnancy through the questionnaire and if they knew anyone who has became pregnant and underage. This part was quite easy to achieve. If I was to do this investigation again I would choose two complete different countries for example, a catholic country like Italy to see if religion has an influence or a bigger global country like America in order for my results to be completely different and show a good comparison for teenage pregnancy.

Bibliography
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/feb/24/teenage-pregnancy-rates-2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8531227.stm http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/feb/22/teenage-pregnancy-rates-england-walesmap http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/feb/22/teenage-pregnancy-rates-england-walesmap http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/feb/22/teenage-pregnancy-rates-england-walesmap http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/8534147.stm http://www.fpa.org.uk/professionals/factsheets/teenagepregnancy#yAtg http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/02/23/merthyr-no-longer-top-of-teenpregnancy-table-91466-28216844/ http://www.fpa.org.uk/professionals/factsheets/teenagepregnancy#HjoG http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8531227.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7911684.stm