Four Commons Committees Call For Statutory PSHE Lessons
The chairs of four Commons select committees have penned a joint letter to the Education Secretary, calling for the introduction of compulsory Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) and sex and relationships education (SRE) across all schools. The letter (attached here) cites five separate instances over the past year where the Home Affairs Committee, Joint […]
The chairs of four Commons select committees have penned a joint letter to the Education Secretary, calling for the introduction of compulsory Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) and sex and relationships education (SRE) across all schools.
The letter (attached here) cites five separate instances over the past year where the Home Affairs Committee, Joint Committee on Human Rights, the Education Committee, Children’s Commissioner and Chief Medical Officer have all recommended that PSHE be made a statutory subject that schools are required to teach.
Under current DfE guidelines, SRE is statutory in maintained secondary schools, but not in secondary academies. Those academies that do provide SRE must make a regularly reviewed SRE policy available to parents and inspectors, and outline parents’ right to withdraw their children from SRE teaching.
According to the letter’s authors, “PSHE is a crucial part of preparing young people for life…It is clear to the four of us that there is a need to work toards PSHE and SRE becoming statutory in all schools, and we urge you to accept the recommendations that a range of parliamentary Committees have made.”
