Following the publication on Monday of Sir Alasdair Macdonald's review on Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education the headlines in the media yet again bear no resemblance to the actual story and are simply sensationalising a very important and real issue for young people. Some of the headlines pick out age old debates that most of us have moved on from – most people now are talking about how to deliver PSHE and SRE, not whether we deliver it.
I am generally pleased with the report, there is a lot of information in it that is sensible and reflects the consensus that exists. However, as Brook is a young people’s organisation I am concerned that allowing parents to withdraw children from lessons could undermine the right of every child to receive education about sex and relationships.
I look forward to the outcome of the public consultation and would encourage the government to implement these changes as soon as possible to ensure that all young people receive the information and learning that they tell us that they need and are entitled to.
I urge people to respond to the consultation so that the majority support for young people is heard.
1 comment:
I was at one of the two consultation events the QCA are having about this. About 70% of the audience felt that withdrawing children from PSHE was impractical.
For example, if a lesson looked at alcohol and wanted to explore the links to regretted sex, which bits of the lesson would a pupil be withdrawn from?
Our view was that if the government are making the subject statutory then that should offer an opportunity to better explain what PSHE covers. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the media are all that interested in portraying the subject accurately.
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