PSHE and SRE - too important to be a political football

There’s been disappointing news for supporters of statutory personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education and sex and relationships education (SRE) in Parliament this week. Following on from the recommendation in the Education Select Committee’s report on PSHE/SRE to make the subject statutory, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan formally responded and said that statutory status “would do little to tackle the most pressing problems with the subject, which are to do with the variable quality of its provision”. We disagree with this analysis – surely putting PSHE/SRE on the same footing as other subjects would help to improve overall standards.

For example, the Sex Education Forum's recent report, Heads or Tails, emphasised the importance of SRE, with their survey finding that young people were not getting consistent, relevant, and necessary information on topics ranging from exploitation and abuse to consent and places to go for help. If all schools were mandated to teach about these topics, it would help safeguard countless young people.

A debate on Wednesday (10 Feb) in the House of Lords on PSHE education, called by Brook’s President Baroness Massey, showed that there is cross-party support in the upper chamber for the subject, while in a written answer to a question on LGBT-inclusive SRE, Education Minister Edward Timpson said: “We expect schools to ensure that young people feel that SRE education is relevant to them.” Timpson also recommended the SRE Supplementary Advice, issued in 2014 by Brook, the PSHE Association and the Sex Education Forum, in his reply. 

An article on the political background to the SRE debate by journalist Cathy Newman underlined that many senior ministers support statutory PSHE and SRE, but strongly implied that progress is being blocked by the Prime Minister.

The campaign for statutory status will continue, and in the meantime Brook will carry on our vital education work with schools across the country, helping prepare young people for life’s challenges, and giving them the confidence they need to make safer, healthier choices.

The Prime Minister's breakfast

Our Prime Minister is so worried that the EU might prevent the UK from protecting children from pornography that, as he told Parliament yesterday during PMQs, “I spluttered over my cornflakes when I read the Daily Mail this morning because we have worked so hard to put in place those filters.”

Now I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Mr Cameron was indulging in a little political poetic licence there. For starters, the last time I got my news from sitting down and reading the paper over breakfast was about 2003 and I’m not the Prime Minister. If he’d said “I almost woke Sam at 5.30 this morning exclaiming “bloody hell” when I scrolled down my newsfeed on my phone in bed”, I might buy it.

No, actually, I wouldn’t buy it. David Cameron is really interested in internet filtering, pornography and protecting children. We know that because he’s mentioned it many times in speeches in the past and there was a reference to it in the conservative manifesto. He’s also really interested in Europe, I think. He goes there quite a bit and I read that he’s busy negotiating lots of important things.

All in all, the likelihood of the Daily Mail being his first source of information on the EU net neutrality rules is pretty slim. They have been kicking around for some time and I’m pretty sure he’s been briefed on them, even if only by a quick look at the Telegraph over his Weetabix back in July.

I have to assume, then, that the Daily Mail/cornflakes line was used deliberately by the Prime Minister because he wants to portray himself as a sit-down-to-breakfast, read the paper, worry about the kids kind of guy and he wants to reassure us that he’s got our backs when it comes to those sexually liberal foreign types making merry with our porn laws. He wants to reassure Disgusted from Tunbridge Wells that he’s on it and distance himself from any sense of being at home in a digital landscape.

What a shame.

What a shame that he didn’t take the opportunity to talk about how rich and varied an experience the digital world can be. How sad that he didn’t point out that that the internet is a key source of information, communication, advice and support for young people. What a missed opportunity to talk about the challenge of protecting children and young people at the same time as enhancing their experience, helping them learn about taking risks and enabling their growth and development. What a pity he didn’t meander down a train of thought that included critical thinking, education, preparation for life, curiosity, emerging sexuality.

Over the last few years, I’ve learned a lot about the way we treat young people and the digital world. I’ve learned that, with all good intentions, but only a modicum of understanding,  we attempt to filter and block and censor – a lot of blunt tools with all sorts of unintended consequences (like the blocking of…ahem… important sexual health charity websites). Filtering is complex* and poorly understood by the public, the media, website owners and many politicians. We have never had a good quality public debate that asks questions like: who should judge what content is appropriate for whom? Is that the job of your ISP? How can we both protect and enhance young people’s experience? Do we all draw the same lines about when something becomes pornographic? Who should hold the balance of power when it comes to deciding what young people can access?

As usual, the biggest unanswered question is “What do young people think?” I don’t see many of those involved in this debate actually talking to young people. If you ask about young people’s voice or opinions in meetings with the Internet Service Providers (and I do), they don’t actually roll their eyes (because they’re a nice group of people, to be honest) but you can feel them doing it on the inside – “here she goes again…”

If we really and truly want to make the internet a safe, happy, empowering, exciting, interesting and informative space for young people to grow and thrive, we cannot simply try and block their access to bits of it. Instead, let’s start having sensible conversations with young people about what they see online, how they respond to it and what they might do in their lives to make it better. Perhaps Mr Cameron could mull that over next time he has a quick peek at Twitter during his lunchbreak.  

* I’m not planning to run Filtering 101, but, can I suggest you;

a) visit Internet Matters, read up on it and, if you run a website, submit a request to find out how your site is categorised.

b) understand more about the main four Internet Service Providers’ home broadband filtering options so you that you understand the way that filtering works or the extent to which your site might be being blocked.

c) make sure you feel happy about all that.

A trip to Kenya

Earlier this month, I was given a fascinating opportunity to travel to Kenya for a conference on young people’s access of contraceptive services. I was invited by the Kenyan Ministry of Health and able to go thanks to support from pharmaceutical company MSD. The UK, and specifically Brook, is considered in other countries to have very good experience of improving young people’s services, and I hoped that as well as learning from the work happening in Kenya, I might be able to offer some insights from our experience over the last couple of decades.

I arrived in Mombasa on the beautiful Kenyan east coast first thing on Monday morning and barely had time to take in my surroundings before I received a warm welcome from my hosts and set off on a trip into the city with colleagues from MSD, the African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC) and Marie Stopes Kenya (MSK) to visit some of the services. MSK runs three main service models for sexual and reproductive health in Mombasa and we saw examples of all three in a mixture of public and private settings.

Outreach – an MSK nurse and her team, who can do fitting of LARC as well as cervical screening and other services, runs a regular (usually monthly) outreach clinic at a number of different free health services around the city. The service we visited was in a large, very run down concrete building in the middle of a fairly poor part of the city. The MSK nurse had spent the day providing a contraceptive service - predominantly fitting implants for women, many of whom had already had one child and who had heard about the service by word of mouth.

Own clinics – We moved next to a comparatively smart and modern private clinic run by MSK offering a pretty wide range of contraceptive and sexual health services. What struck me here was that cost must surely be a barrier, with emergency contraception charged at 300 Kenyan Shillings (about £2), when the national median monthly salary is the equivalent of about £500 and much, much less than that for young people.

Franchise clinics – MSK also runs a social franchise model called Amua. Amua clinics are private practices across the country that deliver services through a franchise agreement with MSK. These services tend to be right in the heart of communities, run as small businesses by people living and working in the community. We visited one of those – a small building in a very poor part of the city that was half clinic, half shop, run by a doctor who also supported women with pregnancy and labour from the same building.

At each service we asked the same question; “How many adolescents come to your services?” and at every service we heard the same response: very, very few.

The conference, which ran over three days and was absolutely packed with speakers and presentations, was designed to look at the problem of service access for young people and really helped to identify some of the problems Kenya has with providing services to young people as well as highlighting some of the innovative and interesting work that’s happening across the country.

Meeting the needs of people living in serious  poverty or incredibly remote and inaccessible rural areas is an immense challenge for Kenya on a scale that is beyond anything we have had to think about (even in Cornwall, or the Highlands of Scotland where Brook has experience of reaching out to rural communities), but policy makers and professionals know that they have to find solutions. The country has a  stubbornly high teenage pregnancy rate of 18% and complications from pregnancy or unsafe abortion are the second highest cause of death amongst adolescent girls.

Kenya has invested in research to understand what works and, crucially, what does not in attempting to improve young people’s sexual and reproductive health. I was surprised, initially, to find out that the provision of ‘youth friendly services’ and the delivery of peer education was considered by researchers at APHRC to be things that do not work. Surprised, until I discovered that the understanding of what makes a service ‘young people friendly’ may be limited to a TV in the waiting room, and the training for peer educators is far from ideal.

None of the services I saw was genuinely ‘youth friendly’. In the public health centre I was shown the ‘young people’s area’ a dark, dusty corner with a single table in it for young people to congregate round. Nothing more. The nurse I spoke to told me that they had groups of young people that got together there and tried to engage with local communities using a range of interesting sounding techniques (like drama, for example) but when all they have to work with is a table in the corner of a waiting room and when young people in Kenya have the same fears about confidentiality and privacy as they do in the UK, it’s asking a bit much to expect an enthusiastic response.

There were some really interesting presentations at the conference from people who are getting it right. We heard from a nurse – Nancy Ngetha – who runs a service just for young people in Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi. Although I didn’t visit the service, Nancy spoke with a genuine enthusiasm and passion for young people and for improving their health and wellbeing that was inspiring and powerful and I would love to introduce her to our work and our staff at Brook. Similarly, hearing about work that Jhpeigo is doing which has young people right at the heart developing and leading it was fascinating and I really wish I could have spent longer and found out more about some of these exciting projects.

The one thing that does appear to be demonstrably effective when it comes to improving young people’s understanding of and access to contraception is Sex and Relationships Education, or what Kenyans call Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE). The average Kenyan stays in education for only six years, but a great deal can be achieved in that time if CSE is given a mandatory place in the curriculum (sound familiar?).

We talked quite a lot about language and the barrier it can be to effective working in communities. One woman working in Muslim communities to try and improve uptake of contraception said she made no progress as long as the term ‘family planning’ was still in use, but when she switched to the term ‘child spacing’ she was able to open up a much more effective and positive conversation. Similarly, some people had had success in delivering ‘Life Skills Education’ rather than CSE, though there was a real division in the room about whether it’s better, if you are to achieve social and cultural change, to be upfront about what you are naming. This is an interesting conversation we’ve also had in the UK context. When we talk about Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) too many people translate that as “teaching children about sex”, rather than understanding what it actually is.    

It wasn’t just the need for good quality SRE/CSE that felt familiar. I was struck by many things that unite us. Devolved responsibility for health services is causing a challenge with data collection and analysis and makes quality control difficult, a nation of young people lacking good quality information and a prevalence of myths and misinformation leave young people ill-informed and looking for information on sex online so access to porn and the use of technology worries everyone. There is a cultural reluctance to engage with the issue of young people and sexual health and every time someone tries to do something to support young people accessing sexual and reproductive health services, the conservative media leaps on it with a hysteria that is very familiar.

I hope that some of the insights I was able to bring from the UK were helpful to my colleagues in Kenya. I’m certain that there are some straightforward and powerful things they can do quite quickly to begin to make a difference, not least by treating young people as partners in the solution (there was one young person at the conference, but she was not really given much opportunity to be involved). The conference gave the policy makers a real mandate to do things differently from now on and I wish them well.

But my visit was about much more than taking UK expertise to Kenya. More than anything, it helped me to think differently about the UK. It made me think we needed to just get on and work a bit harder to reduce our teenage pregnancy rate from one comparatively small number to another even smaller number. After all, we know what works and we just need to push on and keep delivering it, don’t we?

It made me wonder how we can be in a position that we’re still not seeing decent SRE in all schools when we have almost universal attendance between 5 and 18, comparatively well -resourced schools and the support of parents and teachers to do so.

It made me reflect that the right to access contraception gets put into a whole different context when you remember it does, literally, save lives. It’s easy to forget, from our position of huge privilege. It makes me want to make sure I don’t complain too much, but also to make damn sure that we don’t waste the privilege we have by not nailing some of the sexual and reproductive health problems we have in the UK.

I have condensed four busy days and many people’s contributions into a short blog, and there are many fascinating projects to discover more about that I’ve linked to in the text. I think there is shared learning to be had for us all. I’d like to maintain Brook’s links with Kenya and continue to share our experiences. It was easy to feel at home in a room of almost 100 people talking with care, respect and compassion about young people and young people’s needs. 

The PSHE Bill

Young volunteer Pippa blogs about last week's PSHE Bill

Young members of Brook Blackburn's LGBT youth group
show their support for the #PSHEBill

Last Wednesday (15 July), Green Party MP Caroline Lucas successfully championed the ‘Personal Social Health and Economic Education (Statutory Requirement) Bill’ in the House of Commons [this Storify has the highlights from the speeches]. Her ‘PSHE Bill’ aims to make personal, social, health and economic education compulsory in schools across the UK. The PSHE Bill was passed with 183 MPs voting in favour and only 44 voting against.

You might have heard of this bill before: it was first introduced in the House of Commons in July 2014 but didn’t make it to a second reading before the election period began.

We’re overjoyed that the PSHE Bill has been reintroduced with such a large majority and with support from all sides of the political spectrum!

Unfortunately, later last week, the Department for Education dismissed the House of Commons Education Committee’s recommendation that PSHE should be a statutory requirement, which makes the passage of the PSHE Bill all the more important.

Next steps for the PSHE Bill

1.     

Young people in their second week of the NCS programme in
Cornwall get behind the #PSHEBill!

  The PSHE Bill will now progress to a second reading in the House of Commons. This is an opportunity for MPs to debate the general principles of the bill before voting on it a second time.

2.       If a majority of MPs vote in favour again, the bill will progress to the Committee Stage, where it will be considered in more detail by a committee of MPs who may propose some amendments.

3.       The PSHE Bill (as amended) will then be put forward to the House of Commons again for consideration (the Report stage). All MPs may speak and propose amendments at this stage.

4.       A third reading will then take place in the House of Commons. At this point, no more amendments can be made by the Commons. MPs will quickly debate the bill as it currently stands, before voting a third time.

5.       If all goes well and MPs vote in favour a third time, the PSHE Bill will progress to the House of Lords, which follows the same procedure of first reading, second reading, committee stage, report stage and third reading. If the House of Lords make any amendments to the Bill during this process before voting in favour, the PSHE Bill will be sent back to the House of Commons for consideration.

6.       If the House of Lords agree to the Bill without making any amendments, or once their amendments are agreed by the House of Commons, the Bill will gain royal assent and become law (yay!).

It’s a long process with quite a few hurdles, but we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed every step of the way.

All schoolchildren deserve to learn about safe sex, consent and healthy relationships!

Thanks, Pippa - we could not agree more! 

(Young) Voices in my head

I read a lot of Doris Stokes books when I was younger and trying to work out the meaning of life -  or more specifically my life - but this blog is not about Doris.

10 days or so ago young people presented to the Brook board of trustees.  It was mind blowingly well prepared. Their message was clear and simple: We believe that all young people have a right to;

• sex and relationships education - the type that Brook does in every school 
• young people friendly sexual health services we can get to within an hour 
• get access to interactive help using digital platforms 24 hours a day
• grow up in a sex positive environment that trusts and values them whatever their sexual or gender identity, and whatever choices they choose to make, and whatever their mistakes
• more opportunities to be involved in participation, volunteering, social action and routes into meaningful, paid employment

They also wanted Brook to train parents so parents understood young people and their sexuality more, and are therefore more confident helping young people as they grow up. 

None of this sounds unreasonable to me.  It all sits within their rights the UK has committed to as set out in the in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child ratified over 25 years ago.

Since Joshua and Lisa's presentation I have constantly had their voices in my head as I discuss different ideas, consider options, strategies and plans about Brook's priorities and participate in external policy and partnership meetings.  It is a helpful discipline to hold those voices in our heads along with increasingly rigorous priority testing - is what I am doing really really going to achieve any of those goals - set to us by our beneficiaries - quickly enough. 

Its too early for new years resolutions but I have made one already - try to identify traditional processes and systems that don't bring about change - where the process gets mistaken for the task - and find other ways to deliver on the objectives set to us by young people.

Doris Stokes said it was a privilege to have voices in her head.  I agree it is a privilege to have the voices of Lisa and Josh on behalf of their peers in my head. I am holding on to them.

On a final note, our teams across the country have been doing some excellent festive health promotion and condom promotion in their waiting rooms - using different colour condom packs to build Christmas Trees and Rudolph.  Its fun and a conversation starter - and young people have responded really well to it.  Without any intention to whatsoever we seem to have upset a few anti choice people and we have been described as anti-life. An odd and inaccurate assertion.

http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/people-are-getting-really-really-upset-over-this-condom-christmas-tree--xJMBRkGTde

Brook is 50

It has been a fairly hefty, fun and very stimulating week - In fact I now feel 50 too.  Monday started with chairing the Faculty Sexual and Reproductive Health governance working group; then two days of board and executive away days, our annual general meeting and Brook's 50th birthday party; panel member at the Charity Tech conference on social media, chairing a debate and seminar about young people and mental health, rounded off by Brook safeguarding training for senior decision makers and ending with an impromptu piece of short filming.

Board and Exec Meeting
A really helpful couple of days and so much thinking done, leading of course to how much more there is to do, particularly in the culture and commissioning environment we are in.  The Be Sex Positive volunteers (@besexpositive) had worked with one of the trustees, Pete Lawson, to think about what the 1 year olds of today would need as the 16 year olds of tomorrow and what Brook's priorities should be.  Joshua and Lisa facilitated an excellent discussion and represented young people excellently. There were some surprises - 3D printing machines for condoms (apparently you can make chocolate and make up...) and then the more familiar good SRE, people that like and trust young people as they experience at Brook, and accessible on and off line services. They made the moral and rights based case as well, if not better, than I have ever heard.  I was fantastically proud. And moved to (just a few) tears.

Brook's AGM and 50th birthday
In this archive interview with Helen Brook http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/whnews/all
(available until 21st December 2014) she says Brook's first clinic was on a dark November evening.  Fitting then that Brook's AGM and 50th birthday should be too.

Brook supporters - i.e. people that like young people - are great to be around and so it was a real pleasure to see so many people who have been part of Brook over the last 50 years - from founding supporters through to people who had recently walked the Thames Path Challenge to raise money for us, our former trustees and our wonderful young volunteers.

At the AGM I reflected on some of the wide ranging achievements of the year including;

1. working directly with 277,000 young people in our education, clinical and support services
2. increasing the quality, quantity of participation/volunteering opportunities for young people
3. launching a new improved website (www.brook.org.uk)
4. relaunching our policies and procedures and a pioneering leadership and management programme
5. launching Supplementary Advice on SRE with the PSHE Association and Sex Education Forum
6. piloting and evaluating our 'My Life' work on emotional and mental health
7. working tirelessly to offer advice with the aim of influencing policy nationally and locally
8. bringing all Brook staff together in Manchester for the Being Brook celebration and training event

And much much more.  I know just how hard staff and volunteer teams work and the care with which they work with and for young people, but trying to put together a speech that summarised and captured the spirit of the full range of our work was, as ever, humbling.

Brook said goodbye to three board members this week - David Lock, Christine Townsend and Roger Gibson and welcomed three new board members Jo Youle, Leon Ward and Sue Ryrie.  Roger Gibson who has volunteered at Brook for over 20 years in a number of different roles was awarded an Honorary Life Membership of Brook. Vice Chair, Polly Goodwin confirmed to members that following a review process the board had reappointed Eve Martin as Chair for a second three year term.

Our treasurer, Alastair Bridges, gave an overview of our 2013/14 financial performance, emphasised the importance of the board investing well in our strategic priorities, and thanked staff for managing well within the resources available, finance team and our auditors, Saffrey Champness for all their work.

Business done after a short break we went into the 50th birthday celebrations.  I opened with an overview of some of the changes between 1964 and 2014, and a reminder that even though much had changed too many young people still tell us, as a poll we launched last week, confirmed  embarrassment can still be a barrier to accessing help and advice for many young people.

As a young people's organisation I believe deeply in ensuring we provide young people with platforms to talk from and shoulders to stand on, so it was right that some of the Be Sex Positive volunteers - Becky, Dan, Jodie, Brogan, Rebecca, Christian, George, Hayley and Duy - took on the evening from me and I didn't know what they had planned. Except someone had let on that I might be about to get my knowledge tested so I sat in the audience with an element of trepidation.

Choreographed beautifully young people told us - the 100 strong audience - time and again about how their confidence had grown, how Brook had helped them with their developing identity, how important it was to feel able to be them and to be valued for who they were, how Brook had provided countless opportunities to get involved and to give them opportunities and honest feedback to nurture their talents and strengths.

They also talked about how they wanted those young people that went behind them to have better sex and relationships education and access to all the services they need on and off line.  I got something in my eye again when one of the young people said (my paraphrase) 'I get the chance to be an expert at Brook and to have my views listened to. I have never had that before'. They tested the audiences knowledge with a true or false quiz (it would be fair to say as a collective the education was needed) and finally they set Brook a challenge to continue growing the young people's participation and volunteering pathways through to employment.  A challenge we recognise, accept and will continue working on with my personal commitment to it.  

Each of the group talked about what they were most proud of during their time participating and volunteering at Brook.  One of the young people Rebecca had been involved in the Good Sex Knowledge Exchange Project and had been part of the re-animating data process.  She had read Indiah's story which you can see here https://goodsexproject.wordpress.com/good-sex-the-film/ (I encourage you to look through the blog and all the films. Brilliant footage which can be used as materials and excellent learning).

Jules Hillier, deputy CEO had a hard act to follow and did it well.  She launched the new Brook friends scheme www.brook.org.uk/friends - please do become a friend if you can and closed the evening with a quote from a young woman who gave permission for her story to be told

“Brook has helped me to grow as a person. They have enabled me to conquer my fears, boost my confidence and literately saved my life. Without the help of Brook and the amazing work they do I don't think I would be here today. Before coming to Brook I was in a very negative place suffering from bouts of depression and was ultimately vulnerable to the outside world… Without the encouragement from Brook and the support I received I would never have dreamed of achieving so much and helping to follow in Brook’s footsteps and help those young people out there who need it just as I did. Without Brook I don't know where I would be.”

A film from the event will be available soon, in the meantime here is a storify https://storify.com/BrookCharity/our-50th-birthday-celebration

It has been a privilege and a pleasure to be part of the journey for the last 8 or so years. Thank you to everyone who works tirelessly for and with young people from a position of trusting them and liking them and seeking to protect and empower them.  Thank you to our moral and financial supporters and collaborators. Particular thanks to my team who organised the event and to Thomson Reuters for providing us with the venue.

Blogging on SRE and PSHE (again)

Nelson Mandela said 'education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world'. So it seems in most areas of education we would all agree. Yet in the field of sex and relationships education we continue to debate the evidence and invest heavily in research to try to make links between sex and relationships education and improved health outcomes, particularly teenage pregnancy.

Since I started working in sex and relationships education 20 years ago I have firmly believed in children and young people's rights and entitlements to a good quality education that is honest, factually accurate, developmentally appropriate and positive about sexuality. The following Articles of the UN Convention have particular relevance - Article 12 (respect for the views of the Child), 24 (health and health services), 28 (right to education) and 34, 36 (to be protected from sexual exploitation and other forms of exploitation).

I believe that knowing how to add up is a precursor to being able to budget well. But knowing how to add up will not mean one budgets well. I believe learning to read is important for all sorts of reasons but learning to read will not mean one reads books or obeys the highway code. Still I don't need a randomised control trial to prove the value of Maths and English to me.

Neither do I need evidence from randomised control trials to prove the intrinsic value of SRE.  I believe that children must know the names of body parts including their genitals if they are to stay safe; I believe that young people must know how to identify an adult they trust and understand their legal rights to confidential advice if they are to seek help when they need it; I believe that we must teach young people about the importance of respecting different views that people hold about sex, sexuality and relationships and I believe that we must teach boys and girls about consent and more.  All of this will be taught through a partnership between parents, carers, schools and the wider community.

Children and young people will learn, and develop their confidence and self belief most effectively if we have a positive culture that has high expectations which are clearly communicated to them.  I believe we need to work towards a culture in which

1. Parents and carers feel confident talking to their children about relationships and sexuality
2. School leaders are required to deliver good quality sex and relationships education within the context of Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE) and have the confidence and skills to do that well - understanding their school communities and working with parents and carers to develop a programme based on the principles and evidence of best practice
3. Teachers (and all those who teach) are trusted and supported to teach SRE with the sensitivity and respect to difference and diversity, ability and understanding that we trust them with all other subjects
4. Health and care professionals are fully trusted to always be acting in the best interests of young people
5. There is positive and visible coverage of diverse people with all different identities in the media and wider society.

Last week Mr Paton, Chair of Industrial Economics, Nottingham University Business School at University of Nottingham published an article on www.theconversation.com on October 24: Compulsory sex education won't reduce rates of teenage pregnancy.  In his article he argues that the evidence of effectiveness is limited, that compulsory sex education won't reduce rates of teenage pregnancy and that Brook is pushing a one size fits all approach. (He does include a disclaimer statement on the article that he is a member of the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child).

The article includes a number of arguments about evidence and effectiveness including making comparisons between SRE in different countries - compulsory or otherwise. This is a distraction unless we really understand the education system, what other subjects are compulsory and what aren't and the wider culture and beliefs about young people and sexuality they are operating in.

So to recap my view is that all children and young people have a right to SRE as part of a broad PSHE curriculum. That right would be enshrined in a statutory requirement for all schools to deliver.  That curriculum would be developed with the school community including pupils and parents.  It would include teaching about the body, relationships, sex and sexuality, be medically and factually accurate and include the law, health information and religious and secular perspectives.  

The most important and clear evidence in my view is this - children and young people tell us time and again their SRE and PSHE is not good enough. This is reflected in Ofsted's report in which 4 out of 10 schools' PSHE is 'not good enough yet'. There is an overwhelming and growing consensus in support of relevant, appropriate, sensible SRE and PSHE that is responsive to local community need.

PSHE does make an important contribution to reducing teenage pregnancy, and it is about so much more than that too - just this week we have seen three reports on drugs, suicide and sexual exploitation calling for compulsory PSHE. The only tenable option if we are to empower and support children and young people is to require all schools to deliver SRE within PSHE with clear expectations that all schools will respond to the needs of their school community.

The willingness of decision makers nationally and locally to listen to children and young people,  professional opinion (including the teaching unions and expert PSHE bodies) and to create the system change required to improve SRE and PSHE is a litmus test of whether we trust children and young people, whether we are serious about tackling violence and exploitation, and whether we want to make sure they learn the facts about sex and relationships from reliable sources, not from internet porn.

We have been talking about whether to for too long, the loud, proud and compelling consensus is the time has come to stop talking about whether to and focus relentlessly on the how.

SRE is not and should not be controversial.

There is lots to enjoy reading about this article from Jane Martinson -www.guardian.com/education/2014/jun13/teachers-sex-education-mandatory-subject-compulsory-schools-porn-sexting 

The article comes on the back of an important campaign from the Sex Education Forum.  #SREItsmyright (find out more here www.sexeducationforum.org.uk/it's-my-right) .  As you would expect I completely agree with Jane's position that SRE should be compulsory and with the Head, Tom Sherrington quoted who says 'we need to decide what schools should be teaching beyond the main curriculum, what the priorities are for the next generation; I, for one, think sex education should be right at the top'.  

I agree SRE has the lowest of priorities when it comes to scrutiny, that on line porn has added to the urgency of us talking more openly about sex and relationships with young people at home, school and in the community. I also know that many children, young people, parents, carers and schools work together really well to provide excellent SRE. 

I would caution against defining SRE as in crisis, however, because if it is in crisis now, then we must surely say it has always been.  And when things are in crisis people often panic and can seek to resolve the wrong thing. If choosing to describe SRE as a in crisis lets be very clear the crisis is in the failure to make PSHE statutory and improve the system. It is not a crisis of knowledge about what works or in the content (eg the myth of porn and sex lessons for 4 year olds) . 

Yes there is great urgency to improve SRE. Yes there are real challenges as technology evolves at a pace. Yes we have to do more to improve understanding of healthy relationships and positive behaviours and yes,  I, like so many others may be frustrated with the repeated failures to put PSHE on a statutory footing. We do not have substantive evidence that on the ground delivery is worse than it ever has been. On the contrary we know that in some schools it is better than ever. But the reality is we simply do not the evidence of the picture nationally. What we do know is that many practitioners are working hard to make sure children and young people get their entitlement to PSHE and that we have stronger evidence of effectiveness than we have ever had.  

Children and young people have right to PSHE as set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. There is an urgent need to address violence, exploitation and abuse, as well as develop confident children and young people who can enjoy their sexuality and take responsiblity for their relationships. This is why there is such a broad based consensus and high levels of support for PSHE from children, young people, parents, carers and professionals. And that is why we have to get SRE firmly on the curriculum where it belongs as part of a robust Personal, Social and Health Education and Citizenship curriculum (where, incidentally, (British) values would also be discussed). 

To do so, we must not collude with the idea that SRE is controversial. It just isn't. It is under resourced, low priority in many schools and objected to by the very vocal, very tiny minority but for most the controversy is that children and young people are repeatedly failed by successive governments failure to make PSHE statutory. At a recent event hosted by the Lord Speaker, Baroness D' Sousa, she expressed her surprise that SRE is so patchy. That is my experience of talking to many parents and grandparents who, like children and young people are often incredulous that there is no statutory requirement to deliver very much (only the biological) and that  it can be so patchy. 

Finally teacher training: if you are trained and confident in SRE it is only as complex as teaching and learning about any issue. That is why teachers must be trained and supported to deliver SRE just as they are Math and English.  That is why SRE must be compulsory and that is why I urge you to visit www.sexeducationforum.org.uk/it's-my-right and take action now. 

Despite the best efforts of many, compulsory SRE is part of the mid to long game. In the meantime this SRE Advice from Brook, PSHE Association and Sex Education Forum will help you develop and implement 21st Century SRE www.brook.org.uk/supplementaryadvice 

As an aside not once has a boy (or girl) fainted or keeled over during a lesson I have ever run about menstruation, or indeed any other topic within SRE. 

21st Century SRE - time for a party?

Last week I was talking to one of the @besexpositive volunteers who was involved in developing Brook's 21st Century Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) campaign in 2011 (find out more here). We started with the important bit - the day JLS said they would support the campaign and their visit to our offices. We then moved on to talking about the development of the campaign. We worked with an agency to help us develop our campaign for 'statutory SRE'. They challenged us hard to develop a different concept because most people wouldn't understand what statutory SRE is, what would be different than now, and anyway if government is saying they will not make it statutory we needed a concept that would provide space for a credible alternative. And so the concept of 21st Century SRE was born. 

And as the debates have shown over the last months, they were right. I still firmly believe that statutory SRE is the way that we will see the type of improvements we need, but I am really willing to be proven otherwise. In 2011, Ann Milton, then Public Health Minister, when speaking at Brook's conference said SRE must be improved but that statutory obligations were not the way to make it happen. If there is another way to make the long jump we need to make sure all children and young people get 21st Century SRE show me that way and I, and I am sure most others will be a big champion. 

 I changed my Twitter profile at the beginning of January to read: "Optimistic 2014 will be a good year for sex and relationships education". If January is anything to go by, those of us who have campaigned for high quality sex and relationships education for decades should be having a party by the end of the year. 

The political support for high quality SRE keeps growing. Below are statements/tweets from our Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Shadow Home Secretary in the last couple of weeks - these statements from three of the most senior people across the main political parties.

“I think we can do better in terms of sex and relationship education. We must focus on healthy relationships, and I think we can add onto the guidance that’s produced, better guidance on, for instance, problems of cyber-bullying, sexting - we need to deal with that.”

– David Cameron, speaking before the Commons Liaison Committee, January 2014

“I think there is a special need for us to improve, strengthen, modernise and update the way that we provide sex and relationship guidance and education in schools.”

– Nick Clegg, speaking at a reception for sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust, January 2014

"We are hoping that the House of Lords will vote for compulsory sex and relationships education which […] has to include updated guidance around the internet, around exposure to pornography, and all of those sorts of pressures on young people."

– Yvette Cooper, BBC Woman's Hour, 27 January 2014 

This week the House of Lords will debate a number of amendments to make SRE statutory and a separate one to update the statutory guidance. Follow @brookcharity and @simonablake for the latest information about progress with those debates. Whatever the outcome of these debates, it is clear that we are reaching a tipping point where more and more sensible people are recognising that good SRE is critical in enabling children and young people to move from puberty into adolescence and adulthood with the confidence, skills and resilience to navigate their way through 21st century Britain. A briefing on the amendment is available here. Labour's campaign for statutory SRE is here. 

At the same time parents, carers and all those working with children and young people know good SRE is vital and want help to do it well. So to help schools, independently of government, Brook has teamed up with the PSHE Association and Sex Education Forum to produce Supplementary Advice to the SRE Guidance (0116/2000) which we will be publishing in the next month. We have had expert input from a range of organisations to help us. The Advice will address issues that are not in the statutory SRE Guidance, such as teaching about healthy relationships, sexual consent, and violence and exploitation as well as topics thrown into sharp relief by the rapid development of technology such as online pornography and 'sexting'. 

It is clear that the consensus in support of SRE keeps on and on building, both across political parties, professional groups and the general public, but is it time to get out the party frock? Let's keep our fingers crossed, but my instinct is probably not just yet. We have though reached a tipping point and there is no way but forward. Whilst the politicians keep debating the whys and wherefores, all of us on the ground of course must and will keep on doing our best working in partnership with children and young people to develop and deliver the 21st Century SRE they tell us they want. 

Sex and Relationships Education Policies

Over the weekend there has been a lot of twitter action and concern about the inclusion of statements about sexual orientation in SRE policies. I am delighted to see from @wesstreeting that a number of schools have been in touch with Stonewall today to seek their advice. It is clear that the Department for Education Guidance on sex and relationships education needs to be updated.

I was involved in the development of the guidance in 2000 and it seems at least a lifetime ago. Since it was published we have a new government. We have the Equality Act. We have an education system with ever greater diversity of schools. We have a greater awareness and focus on a range of issues including sexual exploitation, sexual diversity and sexting/online bullying. We have Equal Marriage on the statute books. Importantly we also have over a decade of learning from the Healthy Schools Programme and the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, and with that comes a much more robust evidence base which demonstrates clearly what works in the development and delivery of inclusive and sex positive SRE.

I got up stupidly early this morning to read a number of them and whilst I have not spoken to anyone in the schools so it is only a hunch, my assessment is that it is most likely the majority are simply copy and pasting parts from other policies and the DfEE (as was) guidance 0116/2000. In a number of them there is an incoherence (and in at least one the Family Education Trust named as an Authority) which suggests that at least in some there may well be less a wilful desire to stigmatise, and more a skills gap -people being asked to develop and ratify policies for SRE as an undervalued area of the curriculum, with less training and support than we would hope. As a result of SRE being undervalued the authors may not have the expertise to develop the policy based on the law and best practice and governors not trained to understand how to scrutinise these effectively as they do not know themselves what best practice looks like.

Whilst this is far far less than ideal and shows how much more needs to be done I still think it is unhelpful to describe these policies as reintroducing Section 28. You can read why here http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/simon-blake/section-28-banish-forever_b_3185403.html.

The National Children's Bureau published a document on PSHE policy and practice which includes a framework for a PSHE policy which you can read here http://www.sexeducationforum.org.uk/media/2561/pshe_wholeschool_2006.pdf.

We know what 21st Century SRE looks like, we simply need government guidance to reflect and promote it.

The Sex Education Forum @sex_ed_forum, the PSHE Association @PSHEassociation, Stonewall @stonewall and Brook @brookcharity

Sexual violence, misogyny and music - trigger material for working with young people or training professionals

Weekend Woman's Hour on 3rd August had a piece about whether music lyrics influence young men's behaviour towards women, and whether it encourages sexual violence and misogyny. The piece includes talking heads material with both young men and young women, and shows some gendered differences of opinion about its impact. The link is here http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/whnews

The item could be used in education work with young people as well as training with professionals. It starts at about 24 minutes in. (Before this is an interesting item with Ariana Huffington, founder of the Huff Post about the importance of work life balance, and after a live commentary as a vasectomy is underway). Joan Smith (@polblonde), columnist at the Independent and Co Chair of the Violence Against Women Committee for the Major of London was on the programme. It was good to hear her be very clear that all schools should be delivering good quality sex and relationships education to help develop good relationships with boys and girls, and to call out this (and I will add previous) government for their inaction to make sure all children and young people receive SRE in schools.

The events on twitter this week also provide an important source of material for discussion about sexual violence, abuse and misogyny. There are numerous blogs, tumblrs etc full of narrative that can be used as trigger material to discuss behaviour and technology, as well as sexual violence, abuse and misogyny. And equally of course there is a really interesting discussion to be had about the different responses people had - some wanting to 'take back twitter' by keeping silent, and others to shout back and refuse to be silent. Both valid responses (this article is a useful summary - www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/10221381/twittersilence-is-trending-but-is-it-working.html


Writing this has made me feel incredibly nostalgic and wish I was back at Falcon Camp in America as I was 20 years ago sitting around the campfire on a nightly basis talking to young people about all these types of issues - generally the same themes, but different contexts and different triggers. Sadly in that 20 years not nearly enough has changed when it comes to gender equality as we have seen sharply this week from the abuse and rape threats on twitter. Whether music lyrics do influence behaviour and encourage misogyny or not is a debate that will continue. Whatever the answer it is only part of a cultural context in which young people are growing up - one in which sexism and misogyny still flourishes. That is not a culture in which all children and young people can flourish and it is not one we can settle for.

Pornography, young people, safeguarding and education

Over the weekend there has been significant press reporting about child sexual abuse images and online pornography. Yesterday David Cameron announced there will be new legislation making 'rape pornography' illegal. Beyond the accusations of censorship and an industry reluctant to engage, the realities are more subtle, the challenges more complex and the need for good education more acute.

You can read the full speech online here: http://www.conservatives.com/News/Speeches/2013/07/The_Prime_Ministers_speech_on_protecting_our_children_online.aspx.

All of us, as sensible citizens would agree that child sexual images on the Internet are abuse. All efforts to tackle this form of abuse, like all other forms of abuse must be addressed. It is my experience that politicians, young people, parents, police, children's services and industry agree on this. 

The more difficult challenge is understanding how best to protect children and young people from the pernicious effects of online pornography that they don't want to access, whilst recognising that technological solutions – filters – trying to do this may also prevent young people accessing vital information online that is both educational and/or advice and support for those experiencing difficulty.

Brook, and other youth agencies have already experienced being 'blocked' in the past because our content has been deemed unacceptable.  As a result our site has been placed on a 'black list' by a machine sometimes taking a long time to unblock, and young people not receiving vital information whilst this takes weeks to resolve. Solutions must be proportionate. Efforts to protect young people from harm must not create more harm than good through unintended impact.

Mr Cameron’s speech did make reference to some of the points I highlight in this blog post, and I am emphasising where extra special care has to be taken.

Some of those unintended impacts are a narrative that all pornography is bad, and all viewing of pornography leads to harm. The evidence is less clear than this. Our experience at Brook is that pornography is undoubtedly part of an increasing source of education for young people. That is worrying in the absence of trusted, reliable sources of education – parents, schools, youth and community organisations. See this article from WAtoday (Western Australia's news website) which highlights research on the impact of the lack of sex and relationships education and driving young people to look online and at pornography for information about what sex is like: http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/porn-becoming-substitute-for-sex-education-20130719-2q9e7.html. And we also know from our experience at Brook that most young people can distinguish between the fantasy as provided by pornography and the reality of real life relationships. It is our job to make sure they do.

The second unintended impact is a narrative that depicts technology as bad and largely ignores the positive benefits, including the fact that young people access tremendous amounts of information, advice and support via the Internet that can often quite literally be a life saver. 
 
Technology is of course expected to provide the solution and the answer. Yet we know that it can't and it won't alone. And that is why I worry that in all this tough on industry rhetoric there isn't a stronger accompanying message which emphasises the important role of education. The important role of parents, of schools and of communities in teaching about online safety, and about using the Internet well to benefit from all the brilliant help and advice it can offer.
 
Much more emphasis could be placed on school based sex and relationships education as part of the solution - a universal entitlement that forms part of our duty to safeguard, protect and empower young people. So my advice to Mr Cameron is be tough on industry yes, and please work with them to use their capabilities and resources well. I would also advise him to demonstrate he will do all he can by being tough on his Ministry for Education as they conclude their National Curriculum consultation which closes on 8 August. The PSHE Association has written to Ministers with recommendations about how to reflect a strong commitment to PSHE as evidenced in documents from Home Office, DH and indeed DfE.
 
A simple statement in the National Curriculum from government about the vital role of PSHE in protecting children and young people such as the one below could be a game changer and demonstrate he means business – 'It is expected that all schools will deliver Personal,  Social, Health, and Economic education to meet the statutory requirements to support children and young people's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and to prepare children and young people to live, grow and learn in an ever changing, fast paced and technologically driven global economy.'
 
I know any action to improve school based sex and relationships education coupled with technological solutions and support for parents will be supported by the absolute majority including organisations such as MumsNet, the Office of the Children's Commissioner, the PSHE Association, the End Violence Against Women Coalition and the Sex Education Forum.
 
Finally, my advice would be make sure the organisations who work with children AND young people are involved – and be clear with different age groups come different realities – and most importantly ensure young people's views constantly drive government thinking and policy proposals. We know at Brook they have a lot of ideas and thoughts about online pornography – some similar and some more nuanced because they are living their lives now. The quote below from a young person involved with Brook shows just how much they have to offer:
 
“…I think instead of stopping young people watching porn, it is an inevtiabilty which will occur. I think the focus of the debate should be around teachig young people, the differences between porn and reality, so that this doesn't give off unrealistic images to younger people about how they should look or act sexually, there should be emphasis on teaching the rights and wrongs of vewing different types of porn.”

PSHE: a liberating mandate

This week I had the pleasure of speaking at a Westminster Briefing Event about Personal, Social and Health Education.  I was fourth to go in an impressive line up of speakers so when planning my presentation I was pretty sure there would be a whole lot of duplication if I wasn't careful.  I therefore abandoned powerpoint so I wouldn't be a slave to it come what may.  I went with a few key messages, and a view to identifying and addressing the issues delegates raised throughout the session.

This approach can be a bit unnerving but it has always served me well in the past, and so it proved this time too.  Joe, Jenny and Janet from PSHE Association and Ofsted were excellent and did indeed cover all the issues I would have and more had I prepared a powerpoint.

If you read no further, here is a key message from the session - Ofsted is clear there is a correlation between outstanding PSHE and outstanding schools.  This is an important piece of evidence and a big carrot for anyone trying to get more curriculum time and resources for PSHE.  It also seems to have been missed by many in the recent PSHE report 'Not good enough yet' from Ofsted.

Here are some of the other key points from the morning.

1. DfE have published their revised National Curriculum proposals (consultation ends first week of August). It is not proposed that PSHE is a compulsory subject, however there is a clear expectation and mandate that PSHE should form part of a balanced curriculum. For the first time ever it is clear that maintained secondary schools are required to provide sex and relationships (my emphasis) education which is excellent.

Not unexpectedly there was a consensus from speakers and delegates that schools can only fulfil their requirements to provide a broad and balanced curriculum, and support their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development if they provide PSHE.

Once the final National Curriculum is published, as far as PSHE is concerned DfE is not going to do much more.  We therefore need to look to Ofsted with confidence to ensure that provision for personal, social development is part of the inspection regime.  Janet Palmer from Ofsted emphasised that children and young people are much more involved in the inspection process than previously and so their health and well being does come to the fore more during inspection.

With the expectation from DfE that PSHE will be delivered, and the knowledge that DfE will not be producing further guidance we are now liberated and mandated to get on with it ourselves. The teachers and partners who work within them are free to get on and deliver without the shadow of politicisation on the subject.

It will be up to schools to develop and deliver a curriculum that meets their children's needs, and it will be beholden on us to find out where it is working well and share examples of best practice.  Organisations such as The PSHE Association, Sex Education Forum and ourselves at Brook will continue to share learning from schools across the country, and provide training and support.

We must use this opportunity that has been created to generate a new dialogue that helps senior leaders recognise and understand the value of PSHE in creating safe schools where all children can achieve, develop and grow with confidence, and that teachers are supported and trained to deliver PSHE confidently.

2. The major teaching Unions are all increasingly supportive of the need for PSHE.  That increasing support is really welcome and their influence and leadership will help improvement.

3. Whilst some young people do experience disadvantage and can be extremely vulnerable to abuse and violence as a result, we have a heightened and disproportionate sense of risk and danger to, and threat from young people that is out of step with the evidence of what life is really like.  We also sometimes expect PSHE (and school) to be a panacea for all societal problems which it cannot be.

It is important to remember we live in the most peaceful times ever.  Most young people, with the right support and care, navigate their way through adolescence successfully, and demonstrate incredible talent and resourcefulness along the way.  PSHE and access to confidential sexual health and support services is a universal right and entitlement for all children and young people. Additional targeted support can and must be provided for those young people who need it both within and outside the classroom.

To help professionals realistically assess harm Brook has an online safeguarding Traffic Light Tool which can help professionals to identify and assess sexual behaviours - it can be found at www.brook.org.uk/traffic-lights

4. We must helpfully stop calling some issues 'sensitive'.  There are a cluster of issues including homosexuality, sexual exploitation and FGM which are often referred to as sensitive.

If we frame them as sensitive issues they will continue to be perceived as such for generations to come.  Some adults may find issues difficult to talk about, and of care always needs to be taken when discussing these issues in the classroom but that does not make it a sensitive issue.  Sexual exploitation and FGM are both abuse and must be talked about and must be described as as such.  Schools have a duty to promote equality and in the words of Stonewall, 'some people are gay, get over it'.

5. There is absolutely no legislation that says certain issues cannot be talked about in the classroom - as with all lessons, the school policy provides the framework within which teachers use their professional judgement about what to say and how to say it.  If the teacher considers it inappropriate to discuss an issue or answer a question in a classroom environment it is the teachers responsibility to either speak in a 1:1 setting or signpost the young person to somebody who can help them.

6. To end where I started, there is a clear link between educational attainment and PSHE.  This combined with our moral imperative to ensure children and young people have the skills and resourcefulness to move with confidence through puberty, into adolescence and adulthood makes this mandate and fresh commitment from DfE to the relationships part of sex and relationships education a welcome one.

Useful websites www.psheassociation.org.uk, www.sexeducationforum.org.uk and of course www.brook.org.uk

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