
The Department for Education this month published a response to an inquiry by the education select committee on personal, social and health education (PSHE) and relationships and sex education (RSE). The inquiry, carried out last year, recommended (among other things) that the DfE should "develop a workplan for introducing age-appropriate PSHE and RSE as statutory subjects in primary and secondary schools".
Unfortunately, the DfE's response to this recommendation was to sidestep the issue, making no commitment to ensuring that PSHE and RSE become statutory, and continuing a weak approach to addressing recognised problems in the delivery and quality of RSE.
Currently, comprehensive RSE is not part of the National Curriculum. While the biological elements of human reproduction and sexually transmitted infections are part of the National Curriculum at key stages 3 and 4, these elements are by no means comprehensive and do not include a focus on the broader dimensions of sex and relationships. RSE is much broader than this, as defined by the Sex Education Forum, and involves "learning about the emotional, social and physical aspects of growing up, relationships, sex, human sexuality and sexual health".
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