Government at risk of missing once in a generation opportunity to transform Relationship and Sex Education
SafeLives is urging the Government to properly fund and train teachers to effectively and safely deliver quality Relationships and Sex Education (currently planned to be rolled out in all secondary schools from September 2020.)
The Department for Education is proposing that teachers need just three hours' lesson preparation time to deliver on a curriculum of subjects such as consent, domestic abuse, online abuse and equality. The required training to deliver these lessons would be just two teachers going on a single day’s training each. The curriculum needs to be put together with experts, providing quality content that will help children and young people get the support they so urgently need.
Suzanne Jacob OBE, Chief Executive of SafeLives said:
'Children and young people are facing the risk of abuse at home, in their own relationships and online. If we want them to be safe and have good mental health, inside and outside school, we can’t leave the teaching of these vital issues to the good intentions of a PE teacher who has had a few hours' training, and might well still be under-informed or embarrassed about the issues. This needs specialist training and quality content that means young people feel supported and safe when being asked to talk about challenging and potentially traumatic topics.
'At the time they start school, there will be at least one child in every reception class who has lived with domestic abuse since they were born, while one in three teenage girls will experience some form of sexual abuse in their own relationships. These experiences are widespread but often hidden. This is an incredible opportunity to reach children and young people much earlier and improve their understanding of what they may be experiencing and how to get help.
'Without appropriate training, funding and high quality content we could even risk doing more harm than good. If a teacher isn’t properly trained or prepared, they will not be able to provide the empathetic, knowledgeable and patient lessons that this area demands. Good RSE is a great opportunity to address problematic and harmful behaviour within young relationships, and the models of behaviour children might be struggling with at home, but without the right quality and resources we risk RSE being tokenistic at best, and traumatic at worst.
'We know the Government is ambitious in this area and we welcome that. We urge the DfE to listen to experts in this area to make sure we respond to the growing and changing challenge of abusive behaviour amongst young people'.
SafeLives believes RSE should cover all relevant equalities laws, gender stereotypes, age and nature of consent and increase awareness of coercive control. In the documents being consulted on, these are suggested as areas to cover, rather than required. This means that while some young people might be supported in these areas, students in a neighbouring school will not receive the same information and guidance in these crucial areas. SafeLives also disagrees with the right for parents to withdraw their children from this education – a patchwork of schools and parents opting out is likely to impact most on children who would already benefit from more support, not less.
Jacob continues:
'We are looking for proposals that are consistent and robust across the school network. It cannot be right that some schools may champion this important work, while others neglect certain areas or allow vulnerable young people to be removed from these lessons. We mustn’t have a school lottery when it comes to supporting and teaching young people about such crucial issues that affect their wellbeing and safety – as young people and as they become adults'.
Read our full submission in response to the consultation
For interviews, further data and the SafeLives full response to the consultation, please contact Penny East Head of Communications 0207 922 7893 (penny.east@safelives.org.uk)
To read more about the impact of domestic abuse on young people and our recommendations, please refer to our Safe Young Lives research