Age of Consent Debate (Module: Sex, Sexuality and Policy) - Debate question: should the age of consent be lowered to 14 years old across Europe?

Find out more about this module and the activity by reading the full interview with Dr Liz McDermott (module lecturer) and James and Hannah's comments.

Students watching the debate

About this activity

The Age of Consent Debate asks students to draw upon a variety of literature, such as academic papers, legal guidance, policies from across Europe and sexual health websites to inform their argument as to whether or not the age of consent should be 14 years old across Europe. Students are put into three groups to present in support of the proposal, against it, or to adopt a neutral stance to critique both sides.

The debate mirrors the political arguments that exist in many countries, including the UK, about the age of consent. Drawing upon an international perspective, students consider a number of medical, political and moral issues about childhood development, consent and risk.

The debate activity is very relevant to the future career paths our students may take. Most will at some point work in the welfare and state sector, being in positions where they will need to make decisions which affect people.

Student on panel making a point during debate

Student experience

"The research we did was very insightful for our own knowledge of how sex education was dealt with, because it is a growing problem within the UK and elsewhere as well. We looked at different countries policies and how they tackled it. [For example] Spain's age of consent is 14 but their teenage pregnancy level is 7 times lower than ours.

Whether that means lowering the age of consent will result in a lower teenage pregnancy rate in England was an interesting topic to discuss - and whether that would happen. Or, whether we should completely reform our sex education and keep the age of consent at 16. There were many different arguments we came up with and we looked across different countries to see if they would work or not."

James, Debate Participant

Find out more about the degree programmes that offer this module: