Faith Schools and Sex Education
posted: 28/04/2009
Sex education is to be made compulsory in all state schools in England but faith schools will also be free to preach against sex outside marriage and homosexuality, under government proposals.
'Values' and Lessons Opt-outs
The plans to make personal, social and health education (PSHE) compulsory from the age of five, published yesterday, include a clause allowing schools to apply their "values" to the lessons and another allowing parents to opt their children out on religious grounds.
Mixed messages
It means that all state secondaries in England - including faith schools - will for the first time have to teach a core curriculum about sex and contraception in the context of teenagers' relationships, but teachers in religious schools will also be free to tell them that sex outside marriage, homosexuality or using contraception are wrong. Sexual health campaigners warned that such an approach could confuse teenagers, but Catholic schools welcomed the move.
Government review
The government-commissioned review by Sir Alasdair Macdonald, headteacher of Morpeth school in east London, on how to make PSHE compulsory, concludes that schools will be legally obliged to teach pupils about health and nutrition, safety, drugs and alcohol and sex education.
For the first time pupils will be taught how to stay safe - from tackling cyber-bullying to resisting pressure to join gangs - and how to manage their bank accounts.
But the most controversial element is making sex education compulsory. The plans have divided faith groups and safer sex campaigners who highlight the fact that Britain has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Europe.
Changes
An optional curriculum in secondaries covering sex, both homosexual and heterosexual relationships, and contraception will be made compulsory - previously schools had to teach only the fundamentals of reproduction, contraception and puberty in science lessons. A new curriculum for primary schools will include teaching five-year-olds about different kinds of relationships, managing their emotions and about physical changes to their bodies in childhood.
Taught through faith values
Faith schools will be allowed to deliver the lessons in line with the "context, values and ethos" of their religion, the report says. Parents will also retain the right to withdraw their child from sex education lessons, meaning some children will continue to miss out altogether.
Macdonald said: "What we're trying to do, and I accept it's difficult, is find a balance between young people having an entitlement to knowledge, facts, information but where schools, particularly schools with a particular faith interest or other disposition, also have a right to put that in context of their particular institution. "
Faith school pupils will lose out
A Marie Stopes spokesman, Tony Kerridge, said: "We are very pleased that it has become part of the core curriculum. It is absolutely important that we grasp this nettle. The vast majority of children go to mainstream schools but for those who attend faith schools, this is a lost opportunity to have that caveat."
Young people's right to sex education trumped by parents
Macdonald's report also backs the current system of allowing parents to opt their children out of sex education. Currently 0.04% of pupils are withdrawn from lessons, usually on religious grounds. The move was opposed by children's rights campaigners. Adam Lonsdale, a 16-year-old member of the Youth Parliament, said: "No parent or school should be able to prevent a young person receiving good, high-quality sex and relationship education."
Catholics satisfied
Oona Stannard, director of the Catholic Education Service for England and Wales, said: "PSHE is a very important part of a child's education and it should be in the curriculum, but the approach to what is taught ought to be in line with the wishes of parents and should uphold the ethos of the particular school."
The fact that Catholics are not criticising the governemt's proposals indicates they have lobbied successfully. Whether their schools' gay, bisexual, or not yet sure pupils (among others) will get the sex and relationship education and support they need is another matter. Most pupils in catholic schools will not be practicing Catholics in adulthood. Significant numbers of pupils in Catholic and other faith schools are not members of that faith. Tax payers pay most of the costs of faith schools.
The schools secretary, Ed Balls, accepted the proposals and said they will now be subject to consultation.
Download the report Independent review of making PSHE education statutory 958KB pdf
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