Sex education ban would force children to online sources, charity says

Children under the age of nine will not receive sex education at schools in England under new government guidelines that are expected to be published on Thursday 16 May.

According to a series of reports, the guidance is expected to state that all sex education in primary schools will be banned until year five. After year five, sex education lessons are to teach conception and birth only, with no explicit discussions about sexual acts and domestic and sexual violence until children turn 13 and over.

It is currently mandatory to teach relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) in primary schools, and some aspects of sex education are part of the national curriculum for science, such as external body parts, puberty, and reproduction.

While parents and carers cannot withdraw their child from education that is part of the science curriculum - which covers external body parts, puberty and reproduction, they can choose to withdraw their child from any additional sex education.

The new guidance has been heavily criticised by sex education advocates and some MPs, including Labour's Diane Abbott and Green MP Caroline Lucas.

Lucy Emmerson, chief executive of Sex Education Forum - a UK charity that works to bring high-quality RSHE to young people - tells Yahoo UK what, when RHSE became mandatory in 2020, it was widely supported in Parliament as a safeguarding tool.

She adds that young people are only now beginning to benefit from the curriculum, adding that 50% of 16 and 17-year-olds polled earlier this year said their RSHE is 'good' or 'very good'.

But implementing an age limit on sex education will have consequences, she warns. "If topics were to be restricted it will leave children even more dependent on getting answers about issues such as pornography, coercive control and STIs from online sources. We already know that around a fifth of young people are relying on the internet as their main source of sex education.

"Banning topics and restricting age bands is not the solution; supporting schools, training teachers and taking an evidence-based approach is what’s needed to empower and protect children and young people. That must start with Ministers properly engaging with young people about the information they need to meet these challenges."

It comes after a sex expert - also known as a "sexpert" - weighed in on the UK government’s proposals to give parents the right to view sex education content from schools last October.

Debbie Bere, who runs sex education workshops in schools around the country, welcomed the move but added that sex education should start at home.

Education secretary Gillian Keegan wrote to all schools in England to tell them to share material from the Relationship, Sex and Health Education curriculum with the parents of their pupils.

The minister said in a statement that parents "must be empowered to ask and schools should have the confidence to share".

But Bere, 34, from Tiverton in Devon, warned that no teachers are going "out of their way" to teach things outside of the curriculum and parents often turn to her for help.

She encouraged parents to start having conversations about sex and body parts with their children "basically from birth". The sexpert said her own children, aged five and seven, already know how to use a condom.

She told SWNS: "I always have a queue of people asking me how to talk about this at home, which is great, I’m glad to see it’s changed from our day. We need to teach kids young what vulva is, what a penis is, and what a scrotum is.

"People like to give them nicknames, but you don’t give any other part of your body a nickname - this makes it taboo, which it shouldn’t be."

Bere also teaches mother-daughter lessons on periods and said the classes are great for preparing young girls for their periods before they get them.

She said that, although the curriculum designates the age of 11 as appropriate to start conversations about reproduction, it is better for them to learn about it earlier. Girls attending her period lessons start from the age of eight.

"At age nine in schools we talk about sperm and eggs, which is good, but again these kinds of conversations should be had just in the same way as we talk to kids about diet or exercise," she said. "I have bowl of condoms on the side, I have a vulva cushion, and my kids know how to put on a condom.

"We are not a sexualised family - it’s just normal. The kids will just say ‘oh mum got a delivery of condoms today'.

"My seven-year-old asks loads of questions - he was concerned about what happens if someone needs a wee while they are wearing one! It’s not an issue to me that kids see that. It’s really matter-of-fact. They know how to put Sudacream on so why not this - it’s just another health thing."

Bere also believes that the key to good sex education is breaking down taboos around sex from as young an age as possible.

“We want people to be comfortable and open, then they will be more likely to be sexually positive and respectful," she said. “Some people think I have a weird agenda, which isn’t true, the only agenda I have is normalising these really awkward situations.”

Emmerson told the BBC at the time that parents are mostly supportive of RSHE lessons and that they have always encouraged “meaningful engagement between schools and parents”.

“Regular communication between school and home helps parents anticipate what is being covered,” she said. “When schools and parents work together, the benefits of RSHE are greatest. We want everyone involved in the delivery of RSHE, to have confidence in these lessons.”

Keegan’s letter to English schools comes as the government is set to review how sex education is taught in schools, after MPs raised concern that children were being exposed to “inappropriate” content.

The Department for Education (DfE) is due to launch a public consultation into the curriculum, which aims to teach pupils in primary schools the “key building blocks of healthy, respectful relationships” as part of the national curriculum.

Pupils in secondary schools “should be taught the facts and the law about sex, sexuality, sexual health and gender identity in an age-appropriate and inclusive way”.

Additional reporting by SWNS

More information about sex education:

• How to talk to children about sex (Yahoo Life UK, 6-min read)

• Sex education must be ‘grounded in facts’ to prevent controversy – Ofsted chief (PA Media, 3-min read)

• Mum claims she is banned from seeing child’s sex ed material at New Cross school (News Shopper, 4-min read)