Teacher unions in England are reported as being concerned that a review of Sex and Relationships Education in schools, recently requested by Rishi Sunak, is politically motivated.
This stance is itself hardly politically neutral. The teacher unions long standing support for the Sex Education Forum is ideologically motivated, and represents support for what Pope Francis would term "the ideological colonisation of the family". It is the outcome of the influence of that organisation on education policy that may now be challenged by the review.
One Conservative MP articulated the concerns that have led to the review in terms that might reflect genuine concerns of parents over what is being taught in schools:
Posing a question to Sunak during prime minister’s questions, [MP Miriam] Cates said: “Graphic lessons on oral sex, how to choke your partner safely, and 72 genders. This is what passes for relationships and sex education in British schools.
“Across the country, children are being subjected to lessons that are age-inappropriate, extreme, sexualising and inaccurate, often using resources from unregulated organisations that are actively campaigning to undermine parents.
“This is not a victory for equality – it is a catastrophe for childhood.”
It is to be hoped that genuine parental concerns are not going to be overshadowed in the public debate by a conservative ideology - it is sometimes very difficult to separate a Conservative MP's appeals to a particular political/ideological electoral constituency from a genuine concern about the issue itself (though I do not make this remark of Miriam Cates, quoted above).
The idea that teaching about 72 genders is in any way genuinely education in sex and relationships defies simple common sense....
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