Measure PSHE teaching, not outcomes, say experts

During a hearing by the education select committee on PSHE in schools, experts from the education sector said it would be unfair to hold schools to account for issues such as teenage pregnancies and voter participation levels.

Joe Hayman, chief executive of the PSHE Association, said that education only plays a small part in tackling “massive social issues”.

He said: “With PSHE we have to be really careful not to over promise.

“We’re talking about massive social issues and I think we need to be aware that the school is just one component of a wider range of factors that would impact upon children’s behaviour – most noticeably their family and their community.

“We’re trying to address teenage pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections and drugs but these are social trends and we have to be very careful to suggest that PSHE on its own can make a defining difference in that area.”

Instead, Hayman said he would like schools to be monitored on the quality of PSHE provision and for pupils to receive an award for taking part in a programme of study.

Graham Ritchie, principal policy adviser at the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for England, said he would prefer to measure the quality of PSHE teaching using the feedback of pupils.

He said: “We know that whenever young people are asked about PHSE they generally say that they want it and they’re quite clear about the type of things that they want to be addressed as part of that particular space in school.

“I think if you ask children and young people if they are satisfied with the type of PSHE that they receive then that would be one way of looking at whether or not that’s preparing them for life and achieving the types of things we want from it.”