Schools: LGBT+ People

(asked on 2nd March 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to guidance entitled Political Impartiality in Schools published on 17 February 2022, what assessment he has made of the compatibility of that guidance with the requirement for schools to adopt LGBTQ+ inclusive approaches, as required by his Department's statutory guidance entitled Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education.


Answered by
Robin Walker Portrait
Robin Walker
This question was answered on 7th March 2022

Legal duties on political impartiality do not supersede schools’ other statutory requirements. Both the ‘Political Impartiality in Schools’ guidance and the statutory guidance for Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) support schools to teach a broad and balanced curriculum that will enable all pupils to be healthy and safe and to equip them with the knowledge, skills and values that will prepare them to be informed and active citizens in modern Britain.

The ‘Political Impartiality in Schools’ guidance sets out the issues schools should be considering to determine whether an issue is political, including whether it is subject to ongoing ethical debate, without a clear consensus in public opinion. It also provides scenarios chosen in part to help build an understanding of what constitutes a political issue. Ultimately school leaders and teachers will need to use reasonable judgement to determine what is and is not a ‘political issue’. Where schools remain unsure if a topic is a ‘political issue’ it is advisable to avoid promoting a particular view to pupils, and instead give a balanced factual account of the topic, in line with the legal duties on political impartiality. The guidance is available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools.

Schools should take a reasonable and proportionate approach to ensuring political impartiality, alongside their other responsibilities, including their legal duties under the Equality Act 2010 (including the Public Sector Equality Duty for state-funded schools) and the statutory requirements to teach RSHE which is clear that pupils should be taught LGBT content at a timely point in their school years. At secondary level pupils should be taught the facts and the law about sex, sexuality, sexual health, and gender identity, in an age-appropriate and inclusive way.

As with other aspects of the curriculum, schools will have flexibility over how they deliver these subjects, so they can develop an integrated approach that is sensitive to the needs and background of all pupils.

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