Lord Northbourne

All pupils, irrespective of gender have the opportunity to learn about the responsibilities of parenthood in non-statutory Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education and schools have the flexibility to determine when, and how, to teach it.

The department encourages schools to draw on the revised non-statutory programme of study produced by the PSHE Association that helps schools to plan their provision and includes the roles and responsibilities of parents and the value of family relationships, including the impact of separation, divorce and bereavement. Issues relating to parenting skills are included in the personal wellbeing of the programme of study at KS3.

The Government is clear that all schools should make provision for high-quality sex and relationship education, which is a vital part of preparing young people for life in modern Britain.

Academies, like maintained schools, must teach a broad and balanced curriculum and in respect of sex and relationship education, they must - under the terms of their funding agreement - have regard to the Secretary of State’s statutory Sex and Relationship Education guidance published in 2000.

The issue of statutory personal, social, health and economic education and sex and relationship education was raised during the Education Select Committee session in September. The Secretary of State agreed that we need to look again at how schools deliver high-quality personal, social, health and economic education including sex and relationship education. The Government is considering all the options and will come to a view in due course.

The Government is clear that all schools should make provision for high-quality sex and relationship education, which is a vital part of preparing young people for life in modern Britain.

Academies, like maintained schools, must teach a broad and balanced curriculum and in respect of sex and relationship education, they must - under the terms of their funding agreement - have regard to the Secretary of State’s statutory Sex and Relationship Education guidance published in 2000.

The issue of statutory personal, social, health and economic education and sex and relationship education was raised during the Education Select Committee session in September. The Secretary of State agreed that we need to look again at how schools deliver high-quality personal, social, health and economic education including sex and relationship education. The Government is considering all the options and will come to a view in due course.

We are clear that as part of schools’ duty to teach a broad and balanced curriculum, all young people should be provided with a curriculum that prepares them for success in adult life.

Schools are best placed to make decisions about the education of their pupils. Teachers are able to cover parenting skills in personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education lessons. The non-statutory programme of study for PSHE includes the roles and responsibilities of parents, parenting skills, the value of family relationships, and the impact of separation, divorce and bereavement on families.

The Department does not hold information on secondary schools in Wales. This is the responsibility of the Welsh Government.

Maintained secondary schools must continue to meet their existing statutory duties. All maintained secondary schools are required to teach sex and relationship education and we expect academies to teach it as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.

As announced in February, we will continue to keep the status of PSHE under review and work with a group of leading headteachers and practitioners to identify further action we can take to ensure that all pupils receive high quality, age appropriate PSHE and sex and relationship education.

When any school, including academies, teaches sex and relationship education, they must have regard to the Secretary of State’s statutory Sex and Relationship Education Guidance (2000). The guidance makes clear that all such lessons should be age-appropriate and that schools should ensure young people develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgments and behaviour.

Maintained secondary schools must continue to meet their existing statutory duties. All maintained secondary schools are required to teach sex and relationship education and we expect academies to teach it as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.

As announced in February, we will continue to keep the status of PSHE under review and work with a group of leading headteachers and practitioners to identify further action we can take to ensure that all pupils receive high quality, age appropriate PSHE and sex and relationship education.

When any school, including academies, teaches sex and relationship education, they must have regard to the Secretary of State’s statutory Sex and Relationship Education Guidance (2000). The guidance makes clear that all such lessons should be age-appropriate and that schools should ensure young people develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgments and behaviour.

The aims of the research reported in Factors associated with achievement: key stage 4, were to assess the quality of the current measure of socio-economic deprivation used by the Department for Education and to identify potential alternative proxy indicators for deprivation.

The attached research brief and full report examines the relationship between attainment and household employment characteristics, including whether it is a single-parent household, and whether at least one parent was in full-time employment. This model was not included in the research brief because it was not considered a feasible alternative.

The background characteristics used in the research were collected as part of the first wave of the Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England (LSYPE), which did not ask questions directly addressing the other factors mentioned. The research was exploratory, but also pragmatic, examining a broad range of measures but also mindful that not all measures would be available to the Department in the future. Measures such as domestic violence, alcohol addiction, drugs or parental mental health problems are not collected by the Department and were therefore not included in this analysis.

The aims of the research reported in Factors associated with achievement: key stage 4, were to assess the quality of the current measure of socio-economic deprivation used by the Department for Education and to identify potential alternative proxy indicators for deprivation.

The attached research brief and full report examines the relationship between attainment and household employment characteristics, including whether it is a single-parent household, and whether at least one parent was in full-time employment. This model was not included in the research brief because it was not considered a feasible alternative.

The background characteristics used in the research were collected as part of the first wave of the Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England (LSYPE), which did not ask questions directly addressing the other factors mentioned. The research was exploratory, but also pragmatic, examining a broad range of measures but also mindful that not all measures would be available to the Department in the future. Measures such as domestic violence, alcohol addiction, drugs or parental mental health problems are not collected by the Department and were therefore not included in this analysis.

All schools should equip young people with the necessary knowledge and skills to leave school prepared for life in modern Britain. We are working to support schools to develop character traits like self-confidence, motivation and resilience in their students. These traits that can be developed in pupils of any age and in every school through the development of a positive culture and ethos, and supported by a rich provision of classroom and extra-curricular activities.

We have invested £5 million in character education, including £3.5 million of grants for 14 projects and £1 million to the Education Endowment Foundation to build evidence and expand research into the most effective character education. We will continue to support schools in developing the character of their pupils without prescribing compulsory measures. In order to do this, we will develop an online digital platform which will share evidence, innovation, and examples of best practice in character education. We will also promote character education to schools and organisations through a new round of character awards.

Of course, many schools and organisations are already supporting children to develop their character in and outside the classroom and through programmes such as the National Citizen Service (NCS). We will be investing over a billion pounds over the next four years to make NCS a rite of passage and to guarantee every child a place on NCS.

This Government believes that schools are best placed to make decisions about the education of their pupils. Teachers can cover parenting skills in personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education lessons. The non-statutory programme of study for PSHE includes the roles and responsibilities of parents, parenting skills, the value of family relationships, and the impact of separation, divorce and bereavement on families.

All schools should equip young people with the necessary skills to leave school prepared for life in modern Britain. Personal Social Health and Economic (PSHE) education has a vital role to play in this and we want all schools to put it at the heart of their curriculum.

This includes developing character traits like self-confidence, motivation and resilience. These traits support academic attainment, are valued by employers, and encourage young people to make a positive contribution to British society. Many schools are already doing this. The 27 schools and organisations that were winners of character awards in 2015 demonstrated excellence in the area. We will continue to support schools in developing these traits in pupils without prescribing compulsory measures. In order to do this, we are investing £5 million in character education, including £3.5m of grants for 14 projects and £1m to the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) to build evidence and expand research into the most effective character education.

Last September, Ofsted introduced a common assessment framework for the inspection of schools, early years and further education and skills remits. There is an overall effectiveness judgement underpinned by four graded judgements, one of which is a new judgement on personal development, behaviour and welfare. This aspect, therefore, will be graded and reported on in all school inspections.

Additionally, before making the final judgement on the overall effectiveness of all schools, Ofsted inspectors must evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. This means that when judging the effectiveness of leadership and management, inspectors will consider the design, implementation and evaluation of the curriculum, ensuring breadth and balance and its impact on pupils’ outcomes and their personal development, behaviour and welfare.

All schools should equip young people with the necessary skills to leave school prepared for life in modern Britain. Personal Social Health and Economic (PSHE) education has a vital role to play in this and we want all schools to put it at the heart of their curriculum.

This includes developing character traits like self-confidence, motivation and resilience. These traits support academic attainment, are valued by employers, and encourage young people to make a positive contribution to British society. Many schools are already doing this. The 27 schools and organisations that were winners of character awards in 2015 demonstrated excellence in the area. We will continue to support schools in developing these traits in pupils without prescribing compulsory measures. In order to do this, we are investing £5 million in character education, including £3.5m of grants for 14 projects and £1m to the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) to build evidence and expand research into the most effective character education.

Last September, Ofsted introduced a common assessment framework for the inspection of schools, early years and further education and skills remits. There is an overall effectiveness judgement underpinned by four graded judgements, one of which is a new judgement on personal development, behaviour and welfare. This aspect, therefore, will be graded and reported on in all school inspections.

Additionally, before making the final judgement on the overall effectiveness of all schools, Ofsted inspectors must evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. This means that when judging the effectiveness of leadership and management, inspectors will consider the design, implementation and evaluation of the curriculum, ensuring breadth and balance and its impact on pupils’ outcomes and their personal development, behaviour and welfare.

All schools should equip young people with the necessary skills to leave school prepared for life in modern Britain. Personal Social Health and Economic (PSHE) education has a vital role to play in this and we want all schools to put it at the heart of their curriculum.

This includes developing character traits like self-confidence, motivation and resilience. These traits support academic attainment, are valued by employers, and encourage young people to make a positive contribution to British society. Many schools are already doing this. The 27 schools and organisations that were winners of character awards in 2015 demonstrated excellence in the area. We will continue to support schools in developing these traits in pupils without prescribing compulsory measures. In order to do this, we are investing £5 million in character education, including £3.5m of grants for 14 projects and £1m to the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) to build evidence and expand research into the most effective character education.

Last September, Ofsted introduced a common assessment framework for the inspection of schools, early years and further education and skills remits. There is an overall effectiveness judgement underpinned by four graded judgements, one of which is a new judgement on personal development, behaviour and welfare. This aspect, therefore, will be graded and reported on in all school inspections.

Additionally, before making the final judgement on the overall effectiveness of all schools, Ofsted inspectors must evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. This means that when judging the effectiveness of leadership and management, inspectors will consider the design, implementation and evaluation of the curriculum, ensuring breadth and balance and its impact on pupils’ outcomes and their personal development, behaviour and welfare.

The Government has high aspirations for all children. In order to achieve their potential all children need strong academic skills as well as a complementary set of character attributes, such as resilience and grit, which underpin success in education and employment. That is why we have invested £5 million to expand the capacity of schools and voluntary organisations to deliver character education.

The Government is also committed to expanding the National Citizen Service so that every 16 and 17 year old is guaranteed a place on the programme. Participation in the National Citizen Service gives young people the chance to develop skills for work and life beyond school.

Schools have a duty to promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of their pupils. This may be done through the curriculum, extra-curricular activities, or the whole school ethos. Personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education is a non-statutory subject that can contribute to the development of pupils’ social and interpersonal skills. All schools should teach PSHE, drawing on good practice, and we have made this expectation clear in the introduction to the new national curriculum.

We also want to ensure that all young people develop a range of skills and attributes, such as team-working, resilience and grit, which underpin success in education and employment. This is why the Department for Education is investing £5 million to expand the capacity of schools and voluntary organisations to deliver character education.

The Department for Education has published guidance on promoting the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils for both maintained and independent schools, which can be found online.

We have high aspirations for all children. In order to achieve their potential all children need strong academic skills, but also a strong set of complementary skills that will set them up for life in modern Britain. Schools should balance the provision of a rigorous academic curriculum with a broad range of additional activities, such as sport, volunteering and cultural activities, to develop character, resilience, confidence and interpersonal skills.

The Department for Education has committed £3.5 million as part of the Character Innovation Fund (announced in spring) to support 14 projects designed to help create a generation of confident, resilient young people. We have also made
£1 million available to the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) to expand research into the most effective ways that character can be developed.

The DfE has invested over £460 million from 2012-2016 in a diverse portfolio of music and arts education programmes that improve access to the arts for all children regardless of their background and to develop talent across the country. This includes support for music education hubs which provides opportunities for children and young people to play in ensembles and develop singing strategies. Through playing a musical instrument, young people can learn perseverance and discipline and develop confidence, team-working and leadership skills.

Through the primary PE and sport premium, over £300 million of ring-fenced funding was paid direct to schools across academic years 2013/14 and 2014/15 to improve PE and sport. The Government has committed to continue this funding of £150 million a year until 2020. Independent research found that over 70% of schools used the funding to provide more extra-curricular activities and offer a wider range of sports. Through competitive sport young people can learn teamwork, perseverance, self-control, and sportsmanship.

We have high aspirations for all children. To enable all young people to realise their potential we want schools to help ensure they are well-rounded, confident, resilient and happy. Schools must provide opportunities and encourage their pupils to develop a wider set of skills to help them not only exceed at school, but prepare them to go on to contribute positively to the economy and to society as fully engaged citizens.

Schools are a fantastic asset in local communities, and we are encouraging schools to extend their childcare offer to parents. We have simplified the rules and aligned staffing requirements for before/after school care and holiday provision. This makes it easier for schools to offer extra-curricular activities out of school hours.

As part of Ofsted school inspections, inspectors will consider how schools supplement the formal curriculum with extra-curricular opportunities for pupils to extend their knowledge and understanding and improve their skills in a range of artistic, creative and sporting activities.

Through the primary PE and sport premium, over £300 million of ring-fenced funding was paid direct to schools across academic years 2013/14 and 2014/15 to improve PE and sport. The Government has committed to continue this funding of £150 million a year until 2020. Independent research found that over 70% of schools used the funding to provide more extra-curricular activities and offer a wider range of sports. Schools also made changes to the costs of extra-curricular PE and sports – a third of these reduced the costs to attend, and a fifth made some clubs free to attend.

The department has invested over £460 million from 2012-2016 in a diverse portfolio of music and arts education programmes that are designed to improve access to the arts for all children regardless of their background and to develop talent across the country. This includes support for music education hubs which provides opportunities for children and young people to play in ensembles and develop singing strategies.

Over £450,000 has been provided to Debate Mate across three academic years to support their programme of after-school debate clubs. Debate Mate clubs are aimed at disadvantaged young people in years 5-10 and aim to encourage personal empowerment, increase academic achievement and develop life skills.

Personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education is a non-statutory subject that can encompass many areas of study, including the importance of healthy relationships and how to identify those relationships which are unhealthy. This applies to all the relationships that young people have with their friends, peers and families. We expect all schools to provide PSHE.

All maintained secondary schools are also required to provide sex and relationships education as part of the basic curriculum and must have regard to the Secretary of State’s guidance, published in 2000. The guidance recognises that there are strong and mutually supportive relationships outside marriage and that pupils should learn the significance of different relationships as key building blocks of the wider society in order to prepare them for life in modern Britain.

The government wants all young people to leave school prepared for life in modern Britain. This means ensuring that young people achieve academically, have the knowledge and skills to make safe and informed decisions, and develop personal and emotional wellbeing.

Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education supports the teaching of all subjects across the school curriculum. In the introduction to the national curriculum we made it clear that all schools should make provision for PSHE, drawing on examples of good practice.

Personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education is a non-statutory subject that can encompass many areas of study, including the importance of healthy relationships and how to identify those relationships which are unhealthy. This applies to all the relationships that young people have with their friends, peers and families. PSHE may also include pupils being taught about the workplace and how to develop the essential skills of teamwork and communication.

Sex and relationships education (SRE) is an important part of PSHE and is compulsory in maintained secondary schools. When teaching SRE all schools must have regard to the Secretary of State’s statutory sex and relationships guidance, which makes it clear that teaching should include the importance of loving and stable relationships and the importance of family life.

Extra-curricular activities can form an important part of a pupil’s education. When activities are structured and organised effectively, they can provide young people with stimulating experiences which build on the knowledge and understanding they gain through lessons; as well as supporting their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

Schools have been given greater freedom over their curriculum, so that they can plan their teaching to meet the needs of their pupils. This includes deciding which extra-curricular activities to provide.

The Department for Education is allocating £5 million to expand capacity in character education, build evidence of what works and deliver a national awards scheme to recognise existing excellence.

The Government is committed to ensuring that all young people develop a range of character attributes, such as resilience and grit, which underpin success in education and employment. This is essential to ensuring all young people are prepared for life in modern Britain.

We recognise that character is already being encouraged and developed alongside academic excellence through a variety of programmes in and outside schools and colleges across the country. We want to build on that success, better understand what works, identify and share good practice and encourage all schools to ensure their pupils leave with the best chance of future success.

We are investing up to £3.5 million in grant funding to develop new, innovative approaches and enable successful initiatives to expand. We have made £1 million available to the Education Endowment Foundation to increase research into the most effective ways of integrating character development into education and have launched the Character Awards to recognise excellence.

The Government wants to support schools and teachers to ensure their pupils leave with the skills and character attributes needed to succeed in education and employment, and to ensure they are prepared for life in modern Britain. We know that many schools already help build character in a number of ways, so we have launched a national awards scheme to recognise and share existing excellence in this area. The Department for Education has also offered up to £3.5 million in grant funding to develop new, innovative approaches and enable successful initiatives to expand. We have made £1 million available to the Education Endowment Foundation to increase research into the most effective ways of integrating character development into education. We have also launched the Character Awards[1] to recognise and share good practice.

[1] www.gov.uk/government/news/dfe-character-awards-application-window-now-open