Government guidance published yesterday on how Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) should be taught in English schools from next September lacks clarity on the status of LGBT content and the extent to which schools with a religious character (or pupils with a religious background) can opt out of providing a comprehensive curriculum.
Humanists UK, which has long campaigned for fully inclusive RSE for all pupils regardless of background, welcomes the move to make the subject statutory from 2020, but has called the guidance on LGBT content ‘poor’ and ‘lacking in leadership’.
With regard to the inclusion of LGBT content in Relationships Education in primary schools, the guidance acknowledges that ‘sexual orientation and gender reassignment are amongst the protected characteristics’ under the Equality Act and therefore cannot be entirely excluded from lessons.
However, it places the responsibility for determining when students should learn about LGBT content as part of the subject on individual schools and headteachers. It gives no guidance to headteachers as to when this content is supposed to be ‘sensitive and age appropriate’, and suggests that schools can treat same-sex relationships as more taboo than heterosexual relationships which aren’t linked to the idea of ‘appropriateness’.
The guidance also fails to clarify the extent to which religious schools can opt out of teaching topics, such as contraception, pre-marital relations, and abortion, or teach from biased or non-evidence-based perspectives because of religious objections, leaving students open to receiving receiving substandard and factually incorrect education.
Yesterday a debate was held in the House of Commons on parental involvement in teaching in relation to the Equality Act. Humanists UK briefed several MPs ahead of the discussion. All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group member (APPHG) Angela Eagle MP gave a compelling speech identifying herself as a humanist and speaking out in support of LGBT-inclusive RSE. APPHG members Jess Phillips MP and Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP also spoke in support of LGBT-inclusive RSE. Nick Gibb, Minister for Schools Standards, confirmed the Government’s position that ‘ultimately it is for schools to decide what is taught, and how’.
Humanists UK Education Campaigns Manager Dr Ruth Wareham commented:
‘We are hugely disappointed by the Government’s lack of leadership on this issue. This guidance risks allowing schools to treat LGBT relationships as less worthy of respect and consideration than heterosexual relationships, and could result in religious schools watering down RSE content to a point where it will leave students without the tools they need to navigate the challenges and complexity of the relationships they encounter in their adult life.
‘This is a missed opportunity to provide clarity on key equality issues, especially in the face of the continuing protests outside primary schools in Birmingham. The teachers at these schools are crying out for clearer guidance from Government but, once again, the Government has failed to provide it.’
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For further comment or information, please contact Humanists UK press manager Casey-Ann Seaniger at casey@humanists.uk or phone 020 7324 3078 or 07393 344293.
Read more about Humanists UK’s work on RSE.
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