‘It’s time to provide young people with realistic expectations of sexual behaviour’
The government's reluctance to make sex and relationship education compulsory across all schools is letting down teachers and putting young people at risk, argues Alex Phillips…
New and frankly shocking statistics released earlier this week, which show an increase in reports of sexual assaults on school premises, add yet more weight to the demand for compulsory, age-appropriate sex and relationships education in all schools.
Schools and teachers are key to preparing young people for life outside the classroom – yet teachers are currently being let down by the government when to comes to preparing young people for sex and relationships. Sexual and mental health are vital to young people’s wellbeing; educators need to be supported to help young people navigate their sexual identity and sexual health, and to make sure they’re accessing information from trusted sources.
But the government, despite mounting pressure, is resisting calls to provide young people with the tools they need to navigate healthy sex and relationships. And the lack of sex and relationships education (SRE) is creating a safeguarding risk for young people.
Damning findings
Findings from a recent Terrence Higgins Trust survey of over 900 16 to 24-year-olds revealed 75 per cent had not been taught about consent and 95 per cent had not learned about LGBT sex and relationships at school.
1 in 7 young people had received no sex education at all, while just 2 per cent rated their SRE as excellent. Half rated it as ‘poor’ or ‘terrible’. 89 per cent surveyed had not been taught about sex and pleasure, and 97 per cent missed out on any mention of gender identity.
These damning findings, published in the report, ‘Shh…No Talking‘ [PDF] confirm that existing SRE is infrequent, low quality and almost never covers LGBT sex and relationships or consent.
It is heartbreaking to consider how many young people have been exposed to low self-esteem, homophobia, abuse, bullying, unhealthy relationships and poor sexual health due to the lack of quality SRE in our schools. Wherever they go to school and whatever their sexuality, students need high quality sex education to help them make positive and informed decisions, to understand consent, and to have healthy relationships with themselves and others.
Different times
At the moment SRE is only mandatory in state-maintained secondary schools, which means that independent schools, primary schools, academies and free schools are under no obligation to provide it. It’s been 16 years since the latest guidance for schools on SRE was updated [.doc], making it older than many of the young people currently receiving SRE.
Smartphones, social media, equal marriage and civil partnerships are all now part of everyday life, but barely existed in 2000. The existing guidance is simply unfit to prepare the next generation for the realities of sex and relationships in 2016.
Parents, teachers, organisations and MPs from across the political spectrum – including the Education Select Committee – all want to see mandatory SRE, and young people themselves are crying out for it. 99 per cent of young people told us they think SRE should be mandatory in all schools, while 97 per cent thought it should be LGBT inclusive.
End the silence
Mandatory SRE in all schools would see additional time, resources and SRE training allocated to teachers, so that the teaching of the subject could improved. As a former teacher myself, I know how valuable this would have been – not just to the students I taught, but to me as well. It would have given me the confidence to talk openly and honestly with young people about sex, relationships, consent, abuse and their sexual health in a safe environment.
As young people prepare to receive their A-level and GCSE results in the coming weeks, Terrence Higgins Trust wants to see all students leaving school equipped with the knowledge to enjoy healthy and safe sex and relationships. We need the government to end the silence on SRE and make sure the next generation receive facts, guidance and advice that goes beyond biology, reproduction, body parts and heterosexual sex.
If we continue to neglect issues like consent and LGBT relationships in schools, it will inevitably lead to more safeguarding issues such as those reported this week. We cannot bury our heads in the sand any longer – this week’s alarming stats cannot be ignored, and the next generation of young people deserve better.
It’s time to talk about healthy relationships and provide young people with realistic expectations of sexual behaviour. The solution must be compulsory, age appropriate sex and relationships education in all schools, for everyone.
Alex Phillips is campaigns and parliamentary officer at Terrence Higgins Trust; for more information, visit www.tht.org.uk or follow @thtorguk. Browse resources for Sexual Health Week.
