The House of Commons Education committee found that the teaching of sex and relationships requires improvement in 40% of schools.
It said the situation appears to have worsened over time, and young people consistently report that the sex and relationships education (SRE) they receive is inadequate.
Parents want it, pupils want it — so how come the govt won't budge on sex education? http://t.co/1hpAE2hbnM pic.twitter.com/T7iE0hVZiE
— politics.co.uk (@Politics_co_uk) February 17, 2015
The report said: “This situation would not be tolerated in other subjects, and yet the Government's strategy for improving personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) is weak. There is a mismatch between the priority that the Government claims it gives to PSHE and the steps it has taken to improve the quality of teaching in the subject.”
Go figure: UK students turn to porn for sex education b/c school #SexEd is seriously lacking. http://t.co/y6ejzCtpqr
— Zhana Vrangalova PhD (@DrZhana) January 31, 2015
PSHE includes teaching children about sex and relationships, as well as preparing for parenthood, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) issues, "legal highs", mental health and emotional wellbeing, domestic abuse, child abuse and violence against women and girls.
In 2013, the schools watchdog Ofsted reported that the quality of PSHE and sex and relationships education (SRE) in schools in England was "not yet good enough". In January 2014 the House of Lords debated amendments to the Children and Families Bill which would have had the effect of making SRE compulsory in all schools.
How sad has the UK become that MPs want to give sex education to 5 yr olds so they can defend their selves from child abuse
— Tony (@Scott_Anthony_7) February 17, 2015
The committee report said: “There is a lack of clarity on the status of the subject. This must change, and we accept the argument that statutory status is needed for PSHE, with sex and relationships education as a core part of it.”
“We recommend that the DfE develop a work plan for introducing age-appropriate PSHE and SRE as statutory subjects in primary and secondary schools, setting out its strategy for improving the supply of teachers able to deliver this subject and a timetable for achieving this. SRE should be renamed relationships and sex education to emphasise a focus on relationships.”
Inappropriate Material
The report also found that a large number of parents wrote to the committee to express their concerns about "inappropriate" teaching materials being used in SRE.
The Christian Institute claimed that "many SRE resources produced for primary schools often contain graphic material that is highly unsuitable for classroom use", and, in a 2011 report, characterised some materials as Too Much, Too Young.
Why can't children be allowed the innocence of childhood? Now perverse MP's want sex education in Primary Schools. Only in modern Britain.
— Michael Donohue (@MikeDonohue1) February 17, 2015
The Association of Catholic Women said that "some material is so explicit that if it were shown by an adult to a child in a non-school setting, it would be regarded by many as child abuse". The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children objected to "graphic depictions of sexual activity".
The committee recommended that the Department for Education restore funding for the National PSHE programme, with the aim of ensuring that all primary and secondary schools have at least one teacher who has received specialist training in PSHE.
