Schools: Sex and Relationships Education

Baroness Gould of Potternewton Excerpts

Monday 24th October 2011 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Gould of Potternewton]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to improve the teaching of sex and relationships education in schools.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools (Lord Hill of Oareford)]

My Lords, we are reviewing personal, social, health and economic education, including sex and relationships education. The review is considering how to improve the quality of teaching, the core outcomes that we expect PSHE to achieve and the core of knowledge and awareness that the Government should expect pupils to acquire at school. It is looking at existing research and also welcomes submissions of evidence and good practice before 30 November.

[Baroness Gould of Potternewton]

I thank the Minister for that reply. I am very pleased that we now have a date for the ending of the review, but it does seem to be taking rather a long time. Why, when all the evidence was already available, has it taken so long? He will appreciate that the majority of parents, teachers and school governors believe that PSHE and SRE should be taught in schools, and that advice should be given for use in the home as well. Can he elaborate on what support parents are receiving to give them the confidence to discuss the issue along with the school? Further, when the review is over, when will the teaching start?

[Lord Hill of Oareford]

My Lords, I know that there has been a lot of eager anticipation about the review starting and that a number of noble Lords wish that we could have started sooner. We were keen to try to set up the review properly and I am glad that it is now going. We recently had a very useful meeting with a number of noble Lords in which they gave us a lot of helpful advice. I welcome contributions from all noble Lords in this House who have a range of different perspectives and who would like to contribute to the review. One important issue that the review is looking at is how to improve the quality of teaching. When Ofsted looked at PSHE, it found that it was good or outstanding in three-quarters of schools but that there were problems in some. That is important. Clearly, the role that parents play is vital as well. The guidance from the Secretary of State—it was issued by the previous Government and we have retained it—talks about that, and it is something that we will need to look at as the review progresses.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Hill of Oareford]

I think I was with the noble Baroness right until the very last bit of her question. I accept the thrust of her points but, as she will know because we have discussed it before, the overall aim in the Government’s plans is to slim down the curriculum, which we think has become overcrowded. Therefore, as she knows, we do not plan to make SRE a statutory part of it. The purpose of our review is to try to share best practice, to look at how we can raise the quality of teaching and to identify the core elements of PSHE which we think children should study.

[Baroness Gould of Potternewton]

Can the information on the annunciator screen be changed? I am not Lord Gould of Brookwood.