New regulations making relationships and sex education (RSE)
compulsory in schools in England come into force today.
Humanists UK, which has campaigned for statutory RSE for well
over 50 years, said the landmark law is ‘a cause for
celebration’, but voiced concerns about faith-based exemptions
that mean there is some way to go before every child receives the
full and comprehensive RSE to which they are entitled.
From today, relationships and sex education is compulsory in all
state-funded secondary schools, with relationships education
compulsory in primary schools. Sex education is not compulsory in
primary schools, although individual schools are permitted to
offer it if they wish. Health education has also been made
compulsory in all state schools.
Humanists UK Education Campaigns Manager Dr Ruth Wareham
commented:
‘We are delighted that RSE is finally a compulsory subject in
state-funded schools in England. For more than 50 years, we have
campaigned for objective, factually accurate lessons in
relationships and sex to be included on the curriculum because
this is what all the best evidence shows will ensure our children
and young people grow up healthy, happy, and safe.
‘However, while the new law is a real cause for celebration, the
Government guidance associated with it is far from perfect.
Schools are permitted to delay or omit content, including about
LGBT people, on faith grounds, and parents are still allowed to
prevent their children from receiving any sex education until the
later stages of secondary school.
‘Given the vital importance of these lessons, we urge the
Government to abolish the right to withdraw from all aspects of
the RSE curriculum and make age-appropriate sex education
compulsory in primary schools. Irrespective of background, all
children should be entitled to inclusive information on
relationships and sex. The Government must now do everything it
can to ensure they receive it.’
About the new law
Under the new law, parents will retain the right to withdraw
their children from sex education but will have no such right
with respect to relationships education. The new RSE
guidance also says there may be ‘exceptional circumstances’
under which head teachers may override the wishes of parents who
wish to remove their children from sex education, and secondary
pupils who wish to receive it and are three terms (or less) from
the age of 16 may attend these lessons without parental consent.
The decision to retain the right to withdraw stands in contrast
with proposed curriculum reforms in Wales, where a Bill that
proposes to remove the parental right to withdraw from RSE has
recently been laid before the Senedd.
The new law should mean that more pupils than ever receive
objective, factually accurate RSE which is inclusive of LGBT
people. However, the new guidance relating to the topic is not
perfect. It says that LGBT content is expected to be delivered
‘at a timely point’ but leaves schools free to determine when
this is. It also stipulates that teaching must take the religious
background of pupils into account and suggests that some
communities may require a ‘differentiated curriculum’. This means
some pupils may be denied access to the full range of curriculum
content on the basis of their parents’ faith.
What’s more, although the Government has chosen not to delay the
date at which the law comes into force, as a result of the
coronavirus pandemic it has granted
schools a degree of flexibility with respect to how RSE is
implemented during the first two terms of the academic year.
For this reason, there are concerns that some religious schools
will use this grace period as an excuse to deny their pupils
access to the new subject for as long as possible. Last year,
Humanists UK uncovered
evidence that state-funded Jewish schools were pressuring
parents to use the right to withdraw so the school could avoid
their duty to teach RSE altogether.
