GENERAL practitioners are pushing to take over sex education from Tasmanian schools.

They say current sex education practices are failing to get the message across and are putting teens at risk.

They believe if sex education was provided by doctors it could help reduce the state's alarming rates of teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.

However, teachers are concerned doctors are not able to relate to students the way teachers can.

Australian Education Union state president Leanne Wright said the existing system was effective.

Tasmania's schools do not have a standard sex education curriculum.

State schools implement a health and wellbeing syllabus at their own discretion, beginning about age 10.

Many schools offer an opt-out choice where parents can elect for their child not to participate.

Professor Peter Mudge of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Tasmania said quality sex education was vital and doctors had a pivotal role.

He said doctors were the preferred option because of their knowledge and experience.

"Doctors understand anatomy and physiology and they're able to communicate that in basic terms to children and teens," he said.

"They also have the experience to really confront the issues that are so prevalent, like STIs and teen pregnancy."

Tasmania has the second highest rates of teenage pregnancies and chlamydia in the nation.

General Practice Tasmania spokeswoman Judith Watson said the current system allows teachers' own personal views to impact on sex education.

"There is this potential risk where the discretion of the school or individual could potentially compromise the education provided on sex in this current system," she said.

Headspace youth health centre supervising GP Beth Mulligan said young people were not getting the message at present.

"They know a lot, but a large amount is misinformation," she said. "They also lack the ability to fill the gap between the theoretical and practical side of sex."

Mrs Wright said it was simplistic to assume doctors were better suited to sex education.

"There isn't a problem with doctors doing it, but just because they have the expertise does not mean they have an ability to engage with students," she said.

"It is also important to provide sex education through a broad framework of health and wellbeing and I believe we do that well."

Source: http://www.themercury.com.au/