Sex and Relationships Education

Debate between Baroness Gould of Potternewton and Lord Nash

Thursday 24th November 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gould of Potternewton]

My Lords, I am very pleased to hear the Minister say that he is rolling out PSHE; that is great. He referred to a review on SRE. Perhaps he could tell us who is participating in the review, what the timing is, and whether it will take into account that all the evidence shows that at least 70% of parents, 70% of school governors and 70% of teachers believe that SRE should be a statutory subject on the curriculum.

[Lord Nash]

As I said, we are actively considering what our next steps should be. It may well be that such a review will be one of them.

Education: Sex Education

Debate between Baroness Gould of Potternewton and Lord Nash

Monday 8th July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gould of Potternewton]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government which organisations and individuals have challenged their proposed changes to sex education.

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

My Lords, as part of the national curriculum review, the Government received representations from organisations and individuals on the draft curriculum for science, which includes information on reproduction and the human life cycle. A number of organisations, including the Sex Education Forum, were signatories to a letter to the Times on 15 April outlining concerns that the science programme of study omitted detail on reproduction and growth. I assure noble Lords that we have taken their representations on board, and revised programmes for study have been published this morning.

[Baroness Gould of Potternewton]

I thank the Minister for his reply. I have some inkling of what is in the Statement, although I look forward to reading the document in full. Does he accept that the proposed watering down of the biological sex education content within that document means that many pupils will leave primary school with little knowledge of the human life cycle? Within that context, does the document state explicitly that the menstrual cycle shall be taught without details of hormones? Can the Minister indicate how that is going to be monitored in schools? If a teacher does in fact mention hormones, are they likely to be disciplined?

[Lord Nash]

My Lords, in the new curriculum there is as much, if not more, about reproduction and the life cycle as in the previous curriculum. Key stage 2 science includes changes experienced in puberty, but this Government believe that it is right that teachers should make the final decision about when and how that content is covered. Of course, Ofsted inspects to ensure that pupils receive the right cultural, moral and social experience.