NCB Now: Comment -- Sex education needs to be made compulsory

Provision to make broader SRE compulsory was dropped from the Children, Schools and Families Bill earlier this year. The Sex Education Forum, hosted by NCB, believes that quality SRE should include learning about the emotional, social and physical aspects of sexual health and therefore welcomes the amendments.

In order to improve the quality of SRE, it is important that we first dispel some of the common myths surrounding this topic. First, the media has reported that the introduction of statutory SRE would signal "sex lessons to five-year-olds". Quality SRE is always age-appropriate and in primary school focuses on learning about relationships, growing up, being safe and healthy. Secondly, some argue that only parents, not schools should be responsible for SRE. In fact, SRE should be a joint responsibility between the two. However, some parents may lack the confidence or knowledge to talk about these issues at home, so schools have an important role in supporting both parents and their children. There is no evidence to support the assumption that SRE encourages early sexual experimentation or contributes to teenage pregnancy rates.