Statutory PSHE? Not Before Improvements In How It’s Taught
If you’re waiting to see PSHE and sex and relationships education to be made statutory across all schools, don’t hold your breath. Today sees the publication of a letter from Nicky Morgan to Education Committee chair Neil Carmichael, in which she acknowledges the call by Carmichael and three other Commons committee chairs at the start […]
If you’re waiting to see PSHE and sex and relationships education to be made statutory across all schools, don’t hold your breath.
Today sees the publication of a letter from Nicky Morgan to Education Committee chair Neil Carmichael, in which she acknowledges the call by Carmichael and three other Commons committee chairs at the start of the year for PSHE and SRE to be given statutory status.
While agreeing that ‘PSHE is a crucial part of preparing young people for life,’ Morgan’s letter goes on to cite government concerns that making the subject statutory ‘Would do little to tackle the most pressing problems with the subject, which are to do with the variable quality of its provision, as evidenced by Ofsted’s [2012] finding that 40% of PSHE teaching is less than good.
‘As such, while we will continue to keep the status of PSHE in the curriculum under review, our immediate focus will be on improving the quality of PSHE teaching in our schools.’
The letter concludes by citing a group of ‘leading headteachers and practitioners’, who are currently working on an action plan for improving PSHE and are due to deliver a series of recommendations in the coming months.
Accompanying those will be a ‘comprehensive PSHE toolkit,’ designed to help schools devise their own PSHE curriculum.
You can read the full letter here.
