Relationship Education in Schools

Wera Hobhouse Excerpts

Tuesday 1st April 2025 Westminster Hall

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

Thank you, Sir Jeremy, for calling me to speak. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Epsom and Ewell (Helen Maguire) on securing this Westminster Hall debate.

The Government have set ambitious targets to tackle violence against women and girls, but those goals will not be achieved without addressing relationship education in our schools. Ending violence is first about prevention; teaching children from a young age what a healthy relationship looks like is key to achieving change. Children need to be taught about respect, consent and equality. We Liberal Democrats have long supported comprehensive, inclusive and evidence-based relationship education in our schools. It is crucial that these lessons also include information about inclusivity and the needs of LGBT students.

The well-documented Ofsted review in 2021 revealed shocking levels of sexual harassment in UK schools; indeed, it found that sexual harassment was so widespread that it must be addressed for all children and young people. The review highlighted several key issues. One of the biggest concerns was that students did not feel the need to report harassment because they saw it as normal. That shows how ingrained unhealthy behaviours can be in our schools. Even teachers were often unaware of the scale of the problem, not realising how serious it was.

I will quickly refer to the Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019, which addressed upskirting. Years ago, young boys were doing it quite regularly and they just thought that it was a laugh, not realising that there were victims nor how deeply hurt and victimised those who were targeted felt. That is exactly where relationship training starts: with someone understanding what they are actually doing to somebody else. That can only be done through good education in schools, where these things are openly discussed rather than just skirted around.

Relationship and sex education must teach what constitutes acceptable behaviour. Many teachers admitted that they were not properly prepared to teach these sensitive topics. When a maths or science teacher is asked to teach about consent, healthy relationships or the sharing of sexual images, it is no surprise that they feel underqualified. I was one of those teachers who tried to teach 14 or 15-year-old boys. Clearly, boys of that age already know quite a lot, so we cannot just talk to them about the bees and the butterflies. Sex and relationship education should start earlier than in secondary school, by which time young people have already acquired a lot of unhealthy information that we can only try to catch up with, if we know where they got that information from and the extent of it.

The Women and Equalities Committee published a report in 2023 that found that the delivery of relationship and sex education has been inconsistent; I think that was a polite way of saying “not good enough”. The report also suggested that the Government took further steps to ensure that teachers have the time and resources to learn how to deliver such lessons effectively. I hope that we do not have to wait for another report before we finally address these issues.

In the online world that we live in, algorithms often target young people with harmful content, whether it is misogynistic—such as the content of Andrew Tate, who spread toxic views on women—or influencers sharing dangerous content about eating disorders. Social media is full of risks. These platforms must take responsibility for the content that is shared on them. The Online Safety Act 2023 aimed to make the internet safer for children and young people. It holds social media platforms accountable for harmful content, but they alone cannot deliver change. If the Government are serious about ending violence against women and girls, they must take sex and relationship education seriously. As I said, I suggest that we start such education earlier than in secondary school.

Ultimately, teaching children from a young age what a healthy relationship looks like is the most important thing that we can teach our children. It is time that we empower young people with a range of knowledge about healthy relationships, consent, online safety and inclusivity.

[Sir Jeremy Wright (in the Chair)]

With apologies to all concerned, I am afraid that I now have to impose a two-minute time limit to get everybody in.