We must not roll back statutory RSE

For the first time in UK history, it ensured important topics were mandatory in all schools, including consent, body autonomy and how to recognise and combat coercive behaviours. However, a media-fuelled row has unnecessarily jeopardised this curriculum and risked the safety of children and young people.

Some mainstream media have unfairly painted a few RSE lessons which have upset students or parents as indicative of deep-rooted flaws in the RSE curriculum and sector as a whole. The attack on RSE has culminated in a report produced by Miriam Cates MP and her organisation, New Social Covenant, which makes negative sweeping statements about RSE, backed by evidence that is politically and religiously motivated and largely inaccurate.

Cates said that her report was successful after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he would review the curriculum, however this is misleading. In 2020, the government promised to update the curriculum every three years to ensure it deals with relevant RSE challenges. This commitment should be viewed positively as a mechanism to boost student safety, and not at all in response to Cates’ report.

The negative consequences of this attack on RSE is clear for children and young people. Already, students feel they learn more about sex education from TikTok than they do at school. Many may turn to influencers like Andrew Tate for their consent education, causing them to internalise damaging falsehoods, such as that those who experience sexual violence should “take responsibility” for “putting themselves in that position”.

Furthermore, systemic consequences could be significant both for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) children and young people in the UK and for progress and our freedoms at large.

A consistent theme in the backlash against RSE is the idea that sexuality is over-taught, which has caused an inorganic spike in students identifying as LGBT who otherwise would not. This was a strong theme of Cates’ report. However, what we see in schools is a very different reality. We see students learning new language and ideas about sexuality and gender and using this to help them express their identity in a way that helps them understand themselves and others around them.

I think of this as similar to when the clinical definition of autism was developed. This resulted in people being diagnosed with autism. That's not to say more people became autistic, it's just that the terminology helped to identify those with existing autism so they could better understand themselves and the world can appreciate their viewpoint.

This is the same as terminology relating to sexuality or gender. Language has always helped us express and understand ourselves. Yet, the negative way this is portrayed in the media has contributed to a spike in homophobia and LGBT hate crimes. This poses a particular threat to LGBT children and young people who constitute a disproportionate percentage of young homeless people, of which 77 per cent felt coming out to their parents was a “major factor” contributing to their eviction.

More systemically, the RSE “row” may shrink freedoms, as it chillingly echoes headlines published just before Section 28 [of the 1988 Local Government Act which prevented promotion of homosexual relationships] was imposed in the UK. We can already see history repeating itself across the pond. In Texas, the “Don't Say Gay” law has prohibited the teaching of gender and sexuality in schools and enables the disciplining of LGBT teachers for revealing their sexuality.

We deserve better than this. We must act now to prevent the rolling back of progress in the UK and to stop devastating laws from resurfacing.