Response of the Equality and Human Rights Commission to the Consultation:
Consultation details
Title: / Changes to teaching of sex and relationships education, and PSHESource of consultation: / Department for Education
Date: / 19 December 2017
For more information please contact
Name of EHRC contact providing response and their office address:Rachel Albinson
Equality and Human Rights Commission
3rd floor Arndale House
Manchester
M4 3AQ
Telephone number: / 0161 829 8107
Mobile number:
Email address: /
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (the Commission) is a statutory body established under the Equality Act 2006. It operates independently to encourage equality and diversity, eliminate unlawful discrimination, and protect and promote human rights. The Commission enforces equality legislation on age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. It encourages compliance with the Human Rights Act 1998 and is accredited at UN level as an ‘A status’ National Human Rights Institution in recognition of its independence, powers and performance.
Q1. Thinking about relationships education in primary schools, what do you believe are the three most important subject areas that should be taught for different age groups/key stages and why. Please include any considerations or evidence which informed your choices.
We welcome the introduction of mandatory age-appropriate relationships education (RelEd) in all primary schools in England, and consider that the Department for Education (DfE) should use this opportunity to design a new curriculum that is both inclusive and fit-for-purpose, as well as new guidance that adequately supports teachers. Both should pay particular attention to promoting respect for children’s human rights and reducing inequalities.
The Commission considers that the three most important areas for inclusion in the primary school curriculum for RelEd are:
i)Reducing inequality
RelEd should take account of the needs of all young people, including consideration of needs related to their protected characteristics. The nine protected characteristics established in GB law are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.[1]
The Commission is concerned that the specific requirements of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are not being adequately met, as research suggests that SEND children are often left out of RelEd teaching entirely.[2] A survey by the Terrence Higgins Trust also found that, where education on relationships and sex does exist, LGBT and non-cisgender pupils were more likely to rate this education as ‘poor’.[3]
RelEd can have a distinct role to play in educating young people about diversity and combatting identity-based bullying, since much bullying in schools takes place on the basis of people’s protected characteristics.[4] Evidence suggests that teaching about diversity – including diverse relationships – can contribute towards ending discrimination and harassment in schools and, long-term, in wider society by challenging stereotypes.[5]
To support this, the DfE should improve training and guidance for teachers so that they can more comprehensively consider the needs of all pupils.
ii)Human rights education
Research suggests that explicit teaching of human rights, in addition to taking a rights-based approach to the whole-school environment, provides a comprehensive framework for encouraging children to develop positive life experiences and healthy relationships.[6]
In the context of RelEd, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC) has raised concerns that many children’s rights to information about their sexual and reproductive health and rights are not being adequately met,[7] and the Committeehas called upon the UK to ensure that meaningful sexual and reproductive health education is part of the mandatory school curriculum for all schools, including academies, special schools and youth detention centres.[8] All pupils need to learn age-appropriate and accurate facts about their bodies and the physical changes they will experience before they start to happen so that they can make informed judgements and maintain their sexual health throughout their lives.
The Commission considers that meaningful RelEd should also take into account specific human rights concerns from a safeguarding perspective. Teaching pupils about their right to privacy and bodily integrity can equip them with the information they need to identify abuse and get help.[9] Female genital mutilation (FGM) most commonly occurs in girls between the ages of 5 and 9,[10] and multi-agency government guidance recommends including FGM as a topic in relevant parts of the school curriculum, including education on relationships and sex, to raise awareness and improve safeguarding.[11]
Moreover, schools should take a rights-based approach to the whole-school environment, by addressing all subjects from the perspective of ensuring respect for individuals’ human rights. UN CRC has urged the UK to ensure that the school environment reflects the principles of human rights, peace, tolerance, dignity and respect through training and education about human rights.[12] Teaching about human rights should go hand in hand with respecting rights in practice by pupils, teachers and school staff. Unicef has found that giving pupils information about their rights and the rights of others can make children feel safer at school and empower them to tell teachers when they do not feel safe at home or in the community.[13]
iii)Promotion of pupils’ mental wellbeing
We welcome the government’s recently published green paper on transforming children and young people’s mental health provision, and invite the DfE to review our response to the consultation, which we will be submitting in due course. The Commission agrees that a whole-school approach should be taken to promoting mental health and wellbeing, including how it is reflected in the design of behaviour policies, curriculum and pastoral support. In the context ofRelEd, the Commission considers that schools can promote pupils’ mental health and wellbeing by helping to prevent or respond to instances of child sexual abuse, harassment and exploitation.[14]
RelEd also provides an opportunity to address identity-based and sexualised bullying, which can have a detrimental impact on pupils’ mental health, as research shows thatchildren who are frequently bullied are over four times more likely to report symptoms of mental ill health than those bullied less frequently or not at all.[15]
Teaching children about issues such as respect and consent in the context of RelEdcan equip them with the knowledge they need to stay safe and thrive emotionally as well as physically.
Q2. Thinking about relationships and sex education in secondary schools, what do you believe are the three most important subject areas that should be taught for different age groups/key stages and why. Please include any considerations or evidence which informed your choices.
The Commission considers that relationships and sex education (RSE) should prioritise the same subject areas as above in an age-appropriate way that effectively addresses the key equality and human rights concerns faced by young people in secondary schools.
i)Reducing inequality
As above, the Commission is concerned that RSE does not adequately take account of the needs of all young people, including consideration of needs related to their protected characteristics.
UN CRC has expressed concerns about the varying content and quality of RSE in schools in the UK, in particular that LGBT and intersexchildren do not always have access to accurate information on sexual orientation or gender identity.[16] We strongly support the Committee’s recommendation that the government develop and adopt a comprehensive sexual and reproductive health policy for adolescents, with particular attention to reducing inequalities and with the participation of young people.[17]
A report from the Women and Equalities Select Committee has also exposed the scale of sexual harassment and sexual violence against girls in English schools.[18] The inquiry found that 59 per cent of girls and young women aged 13 to 21 said they had faced some form of sexual harassment at school or college in the past year, and 71 per cent of all 16 to 18 year olds say they hear sexual name-calling used towards girls at school on a daily basis or a few times a week. In some cases, teachers lack the necessary training and knowledge to discuss these issues sensitively and effectively, or use misleading information and/or value-based judgements.
The DfE should ensure that the RSE curriculum takes into account the needs of pupils who share different protected characteristics in order to tackle identity-based and sexualised bullying, and fulfil their public sector equality duty (PSED) obligations, which require steps to be taken to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not.
ii)Human rights education
RSE in secondary schools should include explicit teaching of sexual and reproductive health and rights. Studies have shown that young people, particularly young women, who learn about sex and relationships mainly at school are less likely to report poor sexual health outcomes.[19] The Commission supports the recommendation of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (UN CEDAW) that mandatory age-appropriate education on sexual and reproductive rights should be introduced, and should cover topics such as gender relations and responsible sexual behaviour, targeting adolescent girls in particular.[20] UN CRC has also recommended that RSE should cover age-appropriate information on: confidential sexual and reproductive health-care services; contraceptives; the prevention of sexual abuse or exploitation, including sexualised bullying; the support available in cases of such abuse and exploitation; and sexual orientation.[21]
However, education about rights should not be confined to the curriculum alone: it is vital that teachers promote a whole-school environment of respect for human rights by challenging discrimination and prejudice wherever it occurs, and empowering pupils to engage with their own rights and the rights of others, including by giving due weight to children’s own views when designing policies.
iii)Promotion of pupils’ mental wellbeing
Ofsted notes that lack of age-appropriate RSE may leave young people vulnerable to inappropriate sexual behaviours and sexual exploitation, which have strong physical and psychological impacts.[22] High-quality RSE, combined with signposting by schools to sexual health services, can contribute towards increasing earlier reporting of sexual abuse and, in some cases, its prevention, and reducing intimate partner violence.[23]
The development of healthy interpersonal relationships is also vital for promoting individuals’ emotional wellbeing. The Commission is concerned that the lack of teaching in schools about conflict resolution in interpersonal relationships and gender-based violence may mean that the UK is falling short of full compliance with Article 14 of the Istanbul Convention.[24] We agree with the Children’s Commissioner for Wales that, ‘If we want a society that fosters relationships based on respect and equality, this must form part of our children’s learning,’[25] and strongly recommend that the DfE produces clear guidance for schools on how to support pupils’ mental wellbeing by encouraging the development of healthy interpersonal relationships.
Q3. Are there important aspects of ensuring safe online relationships that would not otherwise be covered in wider Relationships Education and Relationships and Sex Education, or as part of the computing curriculum?
We welcome the Government’s commitment to improving the ‘digital literacy’ element of online safety lessons and to include it in compulsory RSE.[26] The Commission considers that high-quality RelEd and RSE should include comprehensive coverage of relevant equality and human rights considerations wherever they occur, including in the online sphere.
We agree with EVAW that any teaching about safe online relationships should be clearly connected to school safeguarding and equality policies.[27] The internet is one of the main sources young people use to find information on sex and relationships, which risks leaving them with inaccurate, misleading, or potentially harmful information.[28] Teachers need specific training to understand how young people use online spaces, and how they can support and safeguard pupils.
A recent report from the Children’s Commissioner for England demonstrates that digital citizenship from a very early age is critical in order to properly prepare children for their lives online.[29] Social media can have negative impacts on young people’s mental wellbeing, with things that happen online often affecting their moods or emotions.[30] This does not only include cyber-bullying, but also seeing content that is racist or violent, or not knowing whether mean comments on social media are intended as jokes. RelEd and RSE could provide an important space in which to discuss these experiences and offer pupils strategies for staying safe emotionally as well as physically.[31]
Q4. How should schools effectively consult parents so they can make informed decisions that meet the needs of their child, including on the right to withdraw? For example, how often, on what issues and by what means?
Reforming the provision of RelEd and RSE to encompass a wide range of views, including consideration of needs based on pupils’ protected characteristics, in an age-appropriate way, should mean that there are fewer circumstances in which parents will seek to withdraw their children.
The Commission considers that schools should be open and transparent about all aspects of the school curriculum, and engage in meaningful dialogue with pupils, parents and communities about what the curriculum is trying to achieve, and be responsive to parents’ views and questions.
We recommend that, when faced with requests to withdraw, schools should ask parents to state in writing their reasons for wishing to withdraw their child. The Commission considers that this could be an effective way of avoiding kneejerk reactions and of opening an avenue for dialogue with parents and pupils, to see if their concerns can be allayed. Teachers should receive training so that they feel confident to respond to questions and reassure parents where appropriate.
However, parental rights to choose how their children are educated are not absolute, and any requests for withdrawal should also respect the rights of children.
It is also important to note that requests for withdrawal could present a safeguarding issue, as RelEd/RSE may lead to disclosure of abuse in the home or community. Government guidance on FGM includes withdrawal from PSHE education or its equivalent as an indicator of risk.[32] In this context, the Commission recommends that certain topics – including consent, sexual abuse and harassment, and sexualised bullying – be exempt from the right to withdraw.
Q5. Thinking about PSHE in primary schools, what do you believe are the three most important subject areas that should be taught and why? Please include your reasons for choosing each subject area or evidence to support your suggestions.
We strongly support calls to make PSHE mandatory in its entirety.[33] The PSHE Association notes that PSHE is the school subject that prepares pupils for life and work in this changing world, helping to keep pupils safe, healthy and boosting their life chances; yet many teachers receive no training in this area because of lack of statutory status.[34] PSHE should be made mandatory in all schools so that it can be properly timetabled, with clear learning outcomes. The Commission considers that teachers should receive adequate training and be supported with continuing professional development, and the quality of PSHE provision should be monitored by Ofsted.
i)Reducing inequality
It is vital that we work with young people to show that our values of respect, fairness and challenging intolerance are central to our national identity. This will also help the DfE and schools fulfil their PSED obligations, which require them to take steps to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not.
UN CRC has raised concerns that bullying, including cyberbullying, is particularly prevalent against LGBT and intersex children, children with disabilities, and children belonging to minority groups, including Roma, gypsy and traveller children.[35] Many schools are failing to address this worrying phenomenon; for example, a 2014 survey found that more than half of secondary school teachers admitted to not challenging the use of homophobic language every time they heard it.[36]