The BBC News website report of today's announcement that Sex and Relationships Education is to be made compulsory in state schools from age 5 to age 16 can be found here. The reporting today suggests that, though a statutory programme of study will be prepared, schools with a religious character will be able to teach it in a way that accords with their faith beliefs. Parents' right to withdraw their children from the sex education provision looks as if it will remain, despite the statutory programme of study.
But, some questions remain:
1. How will the tension between a statutory programme of study (not yet determined or published) and talk of respecting each schools own ethos and parental context be resolved? This is particularly pertinent to schools with a religious character. Will the programme of study be sufficiently widely framed to allow such schools to teach it without contradicting the teaching of their faith?
2. Will non-statutory guidance that may well accompany the programme of study become the key determinant of what most schools actually do? And who will write such guidance? And will particular resources be supplied/promoted to schools in preference over others?
3. Will teachers who do not wish to teach the programme of study, or parts of the programme of study, out of conscientious objection have their conscientious objection respected?
4. How far will governors of schools actually exercise their responsibility for the curriculum in their schools, and resist a programme that does not accord with their ethos? Or will they just "toe the line" and follow "the guidance", which will not be statutory anyway?
5. And there is the problem of the word "relationships". Will schools that wish to do so be allowed to talk about marriage between one man and one woman as the appropriate context for sexual relationship? Or will the question of marriage be avoided?
At one time, I suspect that the world of education would have been horrified by the idea that central government should determine the curriculum of all state schools. The introduction of the National Curriculum in 1988, and the subsequent accomodation of teachers to that regime, seems to have broken down this taboo.
But it is quite a thought, isn't it. The Department for Children, Schools and Family is who will determine what is taught in state schools about sexuality.
1 comment:
Re point 5. While driving yesterday i caught the news and there was a chap on talking about the sex education programme and he stressed that young children wouldn't be taught in detail about sex but that morals and relationships were to be emphasized. My mind wandered on and i thought would these young children be told something like this "These relationships are very special ,respectful and loving- the couple are committed to each other exclusively and then things may change and you leave and start another special, respectful and exclusive relationship with someone else..."
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