What the National Curriculum says
Sex education is compulsory at secondary schools, though not for younger
children. The
National Curriculum guidelines say: "All schools must have an up-to-date
sex and relationship policy, drawn up by the governing body, and available
to parents for inspection...teaching about safer sex remains one of the
government's key strategies for reducing the incidence of HIV/Aids and
STIs."
While the biological content of sex education is laid out in the National
Curriculum for Science, most of the social, moral and emotional aspects
are dealt with outside its remit. They are part of 'Personal, Social and
Health Education' (PSHE) lessons. According to the Sex Education Forum:
"Sex education needs to be about more than imparting facts."
Showing a video about the biology of sex is not enough.
The kind of facts young people do want are about mutual consent around
safer sex, getting pregnant, homosexuality (Section 28 does not really
stand in the way of this in any real sense), boys' understanding of menstruation,
when to lose your virginity, sexual positions, STIs. All the kind of stuff
that needs classroom discussion. This puts a lot of responsibility on
schoolteachers. And pupils feel more comfortable having 'new faces' when
discussing the more personal questions around sex and sexual health.
Outside help
So schools are increasingly requesting the support of outside groups to
assist in specialist sexual health education.
Paula Power, herself a PSHE advisory teacher for 10 years, now runs a
group called
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The Christopher Winter Project who devise sex and HIV education workshops for London schools. She says: "The main change I have seen
