The Government has announced that it will not be requiring schools to provide Sex and Relationships Education (SRE), despite widespread calls for the proposal from educationalists, campaigners and Parliamentarians. The news was communicated yesterday by letter to the House of Commons Education Select Committee, following a report the Committee published in 2015 recommending mandatory Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (including SRE) and a similar call in joint letter last month from four Commons Select Committee Chairs.
Chair of the Accord Coalition for Inclusive Education, said ‘Parents, teachers, pupils and Parliament want for schools to provide high quality PSHE, which is shown to make a vital contribution to young people’s health and well-being. Making the subject compulsory would raise standards by giving the status of the subject a much needed boost, while also guaranteeing for pupils an entitlement to an education that ensures they know how their bodies work and of risks they may face.
‘The Government has however decided against this, which is both frustrating and disappointing. In so doing, education policy has again succumbed to a narrow lobby that ignores evidence around the best interests of pupils and society at large. If the Government is as concerned about matters such as teenage pregnancy, online trolling, school bullying, domestic violence or drug abuse, as it claims to be, then we should ask why did they not seize this opportunity to educate children to navigate around such hazards?’
