Memorandum submitted by Brook
1. EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
1.1 Brook believes that all children and
young people have the right to sex and relationships education
which equips them with the information and skills they need to
form healthy and positive sexual relationships. Their right to
this education is enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights
of the Child.
1.2 Brook is supportive of the Children,
Schools and Families Bill. Good quality sex and relationships
education guaranteed through a statutory curriculum is long overdue
and will make a huge difference to children and young people.
This is something that Brook has long campaigned for.
1.3 The reduction of the age at which parents
can opt out their children from education about sex and relationships
to 15 guarantees that all young people will receive at least
one year of sex and relationships education before they reach
16.
2. INTRODUCTION
2.1 Brook is the UK's leading provider of
sexual health services and advice for young people under 25. The
charity has 45 years of experience working with young people
and currently has a network of services in England, Scotland,
Northern Ireland and Jersey.
2.2 Through education, clinical services
and campaigning Brook helps children and young people to make
informed, active choices about their personal and sexual relationships
so they can enjoy their sexuality without harm.
3. THE RIGHTS
OF CHILDREN
AND YOUNG
PEOPLE
3.1 Every day at Brook we see young people
whose education about relationships and sex has not been good
enough. For too long young people have been saying that the sex
education they receive is too little, too late and too biological
because schools are only required to teach what is in the science
curriculum.
3.2 Young people report too little discussion
of social and emotional issues, including real life dilemmas,
and that what little information they are given about sexually
transmitted infections is not relevant to their lives. A survey
of almost 22,000 young people[51]
found that 40% of respondents thought their SRE was either poor
or very poor and a further 33% thought it was average. 43% said
they had not been taught about personal relationships at school.
3.3 It is fantastic progress that Personal,
Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) Education,[52]
the subject within which sex and relationships education is delivered,
will become a statutory part of the national curriculum.
3.4 Making PSHE Education statutory will
provide a clear framework and ensure that it will be inclusive
of every child and young person combining legal/civil rights,
health, and cultural and religious perspectives. It will mean
that all children and young people will receive the education
and information they are entitled to.
4. THE RIGHTS
OF PARENTS
4.1 Brook does not believe that making sex
and relationships education a statutory part of the national curriculum
is incompatible with the right of parents to respect for their
religious and philosophical convictions in the education of their
children.
4.2 In fact, the Children, Schools and Families
Bill sets out principles for PSHE Education. In clause 11, point
6, the second principle of which is that: "PSHE should
be taught in a way that
(a) is appropriate to the ages of the pupils
concerned and to their religious and cultural backgrounds, and
also
(b) reflects a reasonable range of religious,
cultural and other perspectives."
4.3 Children, young people, parents, carers
and teachers all support PSHE Education. The vast majority of
parents are in favour of sex education in schools as this supports
what many of them are already doing at home. A 2009 survey
for the DCSF showed that 81% of parents agreed that every child
should attend sex and relationships (SRE) lessons if they were
part of the national curriculum.[53]
4.4 Less than 1% of parents and carers withdraw
their children from SRE.[54]
However the proposal to limit the right of withdrawal to under
15 is welcome because it will guarantee that every young
person will receive at least one year of education about sex and
relationships before they reach 16, the legal age of consent and
the age at which the majority of young people first have sexual
intercourse.[55]
14 January 2010
51 In Primary Schools this part of the curriculum is
known as Understanding Physical Development, Health and Well-being. Back
52
UK Youth Parliament. SRE-Are you getting it?, June 2007. Back
53
Populus/Blue Rubicon Sex Education Poll, 2009 Back
54
Nicole Stone and Roger Ingham, Exploration of the factors that
affect the delivery of sex and sexuality education and support
in schools, Centre for Sexual Health Research, Faculty of Social
Sciences, University of Southampton, July 1998 Back
55
K Wellings et al, Sexual behaviour in Britain: early heterosexual
experience, The Lancet, Vol 358, 1 December 2001 Back
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