Today I am proud that Brook in partnership with PSHE Association and Sex Education Forum has launched Supplementary Advice to update Government's Statutory Sex and Relationship Education Guidance published in 2000. All of us committed to ensuring children and young people's entitlement to good education about sex and relationships as part of PSHE whatever school they are in, wherever they are in the country.
The link to the SRE Supplementary Advice is here www.brook.org.uk/supplementaryadvice
The Times Educational Supplement has published an article about the Supplementary Advice which is here.
Much of what is in the statutory 2000 guidance remains good, yet there have been advances in technology which brings the potential for real excitement and easy access to knowledge and information, as well as new challenges - the easy spread of images and easy access to pornography. We also now know more about issues like Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and the importance of young people developing a positive and active understanding of consent and pleasure, and the development of key skills to navigate and develop positive healthy relationships whatever their gender and sexual identities.
The three organisations have taken advice and input from teachers and other experts to help shape this Supplementary Advice. We have worked hard to incorporate the range of different perspectives and I am immensely proud there is now Supplementary Advice for schools that has such senior support from a wide range of colleagues including Lord Nash, Schools Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, Teaching Unions, NSPCC, Faculty Sexual and Reproductive Health, British Association of Sexual Health and HIV, Girlguiding UK, ParentZone, Stonewall, CEOP and Public Health England (you can see the support at the back of their Advice).
David Cameron himself has also said he welcomes the work of expert organisations supporting schools in this area in response to particular public health concerns about violence and his personal interest in online pornography. But let's be clear this does not replace the ongoing need for statutory Personal, Social and Health Education or strong national and local leadership. It should, in my view, move on from the protracted and intransigent debate that was developing about Government's failure to update their statutory guidance and the implicit and explicit finger pointing that it was because of the out of date guidance that SRE is 'still not good enough' to use Ofsted's words.
Whatever your view about whether government should update their guidance or not, they have chosen not to and it is important we provide schools with the support they need NOW whilst continuing to campaign for more leadership and support for positive, empowering sex and relationships education. Government repeatedly confirm PSHE is an important part of the curriculum for young people that schools must ensure children receive their entitlement to and I am pleased Joe Hayman, CEO of PSHE Association and collaborator on this Advice is going to chair a government advisory group on PSHE.
Of course, it is true much more needs to be done to accelerate progress in PSHE. This Supplementary Advice is one piece of the jigsaw. David Cameron and Lord Nash have both welcomed this Supplementary Advice and we have got to the starting line. All of our jobs now as expert agencies, teachers, Unions and schools is to make sure we don't mistake the task of producing the Supplementary Advice for the real task - improving SRE in schools. All of us at Brook and our colleagues at the PSHE Association and Sex Education Forum look forward to working with you to develop SRE for the 21st Century.
Thanks to everyone - too numerous to name here - for support, insight, challenge and perspectives and to Sarah Townsend (@STEcopywriting) and Ashley Goldstein (@weaseldance) for their important contributions. I would personally welcome any feedback about the Supplementary Advice at communications@brook.org.uk so we can know whether it has hit the spot and what else we can do to support teachers to get on with the real job - delivering excellent SRE for young people.
Happy weekend - follow us on twitter @simonablake @besexpositive @brookcharity and please do use the hashtag SREAdvice
Friday, 28 February 2014
Wednesday, 26 February 2014
Sex Appeal 3 - Melange a Trois - some thank yous
Saturday 15th February saw a stunning line up of comedians take part in Sex Appeal 3. For the third year running, Brook Ambassador, Zoe Margolis organised a brilliant comedy fundraiser in aid of Brook with a line up to match any 'best of the fest' show I have ever been to. The inimitable and unbeatable Al Murray hosted the show as his alter ego The Pub Landlord.
The trouble with thank you's is that you will inevitably miss someone off the list, but here goes. Thank you Zoe Margolis for organising Sex Appeal 3 and her complete commitment to improving sex and relationships education for young people.
Thank you to Ava Vidal who gave comedic insight into the relationship between mother and son; to Bec Hill who wooed us with her modern pulling techniques; to Chris Coltrane who challenged the audience to think differently on bisexuality - after all you don't question someone so intently if they go out with someone with different coloured eyes, why different genitals; to David Mills who has ensured that everytime someone says gravity in our house it gets repeated in an American accent until the other screams for cover; to Kate Smurthwaite for being an all year round pro choice pro sex education campaigner and for ensuring our drive to and from the Brighton marathon the next day was filled with discussion about menstruation and pain; to Robin Ince who reminded the audience you must always have a different nose picking finger from your bum picking one; to Shappi Khorsandi for making most people squirm with talk of labour wards and cunnilingus; to Shazia Mirza for introducing a new word into my life - 'ramadanification' and to Vikki Stone for sharing her Brian Cox tune. Probably fair to say I guess you had to be there so if you weren't make a mental note not to miss out next year.
Every single person left with a big smile on their faces exactly as intended and I have had excellent feedback from so many people who were there, so thank you to all the comedians of them for making us laugh and for supporting our goal of ensuring young people get the sex and relationships education they want and deserve. Thank you very much to Love Honey for sponsoring Sex Appeal and to the Love Honey team who braved it in the mini bus from Bath and provided all the contributors with a box of goodies. Thank you CM Print for continued support for Brook and Sex Appeal; to Joy, Ginny and all the Brook and Be Sex Positive team Richard, Leah, Sally, Josina, Holly and Brogan who volunteered on the night; to the stage crew Kirsty and James, and the Bloomsbury Theatre tech team.
And finally of course thank you to Al Murray - the Pub Landlord - for hosting Sex Appeal 1, 2 and 3 and being simply brilliant each time. This year, a special thank you to Al for giving me the added personal pleasure of watching first my partner then one of my good friends squirm at different points in the evening with a little bit of audience participation. I watched from a distance with a satisfied smile and thought sometimes things have to be left to chance - I couldn't have briefed it better had I tried!
We asked all of the comedians to tell us why they are involved and want to support our work including our work to improve sex and relationships education. Here is what they said;
Al Murray - sex ed is incredibly important - you can't exactly make informed choices if you're not informed can you? Also two of my favourite things are sex and education
Ava Vidal - i was a teen mum and am pleased to perform at Sex Appeal to help raise Brook's profile so they can continue doing the excellent work they do
Bec Hill - it's important that every person grows up learning as much about sex as possible, so they are equipped with the knowledge to make the right decisions for themselves and those they share it with
Chris Coltrane - sex is brilliant. But enough of my boasting: Brook do such amazing work, giving young people the resources that everyone deserves to make sure they're sexual healthy. I'm proud to be supporting them
David Mills - regarding sex education - I'm all for it. And not just for young people, I'm for Continuing Sex Education'. If you still rely on the same moves you learned as a teenager it's time to go back to school. I'm all for skills sharing
Kate Smurthwaite - there is only one subject taught in schools where significant numbers of parents, teachers and politicians regularly insist that keeping children in ignorance is good for them. But ignorant children quickly grow up to become ignorant adults. The human body has an amazing capacity to experience physical pleasure. Every young person should be taught about sex in a calm and mature way that emphasises consent and safe sex and celebrates sexual diversity
Robin Ince - as a teen of the 80s I remember the terror, moral panic and misunderstanding surrounding the discovery of AIDS. For young people (indeed all people) it is important to be properly informed and advised, which is why I support Brook by saying some jokes
Shappi Khorsandi - as a big fan of sex and a supporter of young people, I think Brook does an incredibly important job and so I am glad to be part of Sex Appeal and support Brook's work
Shazia Mirza - I am doing Sex Appeal, because I might get a few tips for myself and I also used to be a science teachers so used to teach sex education all the time. All my ex-pupils will be disappointed if I don't do this gig
Vikki Stone - Teaching young people to make informed choices about the emotional and physiological minefield that is 'sex' is as important as teaching them maths or science
If you were at Sex Appeal 3 and enjoyed it and want to get involved with Brook, or missed this and want to find out more or get involved with Brook visit www.brook.org.uk/get-involved - we are always keen to welcome more people into the Brook family to come alongside us and campaign for young people's sexual rights including the right to good sex and relationships education. We have activities for everyone - join me and a team of Brookies walking a 100k in September or sign up and become a member from your arm chair - its just £10 per year and we would love you to join us in our 50th year.
Thanks again to everybody for making this happen.
I very much look forward to Sex Appeal 4.
The trouble with thank you's is that you will inevitably miss someone off the list, but here goes. Thank you Zoe Margolis for organising Sex Appeal 3 and her complete commitment to improving sex and relationships education for young people.
Thank you to Ava Vidal who gave comedic insight into the relationship between mother and son; to Bec Hill who wooed us with her modern pulling techniques; to Chris Coltrane who challenged the audience to think differently on bisexuality - after all you don't question someone so intently if they go out with someone with different coloured eyes, why different genitals; to David Mills who has ensured that everytime someone says gravity in our house it gets repeated in an American accent until the other screams for cover; to Kate Smurthwaite for being an all year round pro choice pro sex education campaigner and for ensuring our drive to and from the Brighton marathon the next day was filled with discussion about menstruation and pain; to Robin Ince who reminded the audience you must always have a different nose picking finger from your bum picking one; to Shappi Khorsandi for making most people squirm with talk of labour wards and cunnilingus; to Shazia Mirza for introducing a new word into my life - 'ramadanification' and to Vikki Stone for sharing her Brian Cox tune. Probably fair to say I guess you had to be there so if you weren't make a mental note not to miss out next year.
Every single person left with a big smile on their faces exactly as intended and I have had excellent feedback from so many people who were there, so thank you to all the comedians of them for making us laugh and for supporting our goal of ensuring young people get the sex and relationships education they want and deserve. Thank you very much to Love Honey for sponsoring Sex Appeal and to the Love Honey team who braved it in the mini bus from Bath and provided all the contributors with a box of goodies. Thank you CM Print for continued support for Brook and Sex Appeal; to Joy, Ginny and all the Brook and Be Sex Positive team Richard, Leah, Sally, Josina, Holly and Brogan who volunteered on the night; to the stage crew Kirsty and James, and the Bloomsbury Theatre tech team.
And finally of course thank you to Al Murray - the Pub Landlord - for hosting Sex Appeal 1, 2 and 3 and being simply brilliant each time. This year, a special thank you to Al for giving me the added personal pleasure of watching first my partner then one of my good friends squirm at different points in the evening with a little bit of audience participation. I watched from a distance with a satisfied smile and thought sometimes things have to be left to chance - I couldn't have briefed it better had I tried!
We asked all of the comedians to tell us why they are involved and want to support our work including our work to improve sex and relationships education. Here is what they said;
Al Murray - sex ed is incredibly important - you can't exactly make informed choices if you're not informed can you? Also two of my favourite things are sex and education
Ava Vidal - i was a teen mum and am pleased to perform at Sex Appeal to help raise Brook's profile so they can continue doing the excellent work they do
Bec Hill - it's important that every person grows up learning as much about sex as possible, so they are equipped with the knowledge to make the right decisions for themselves and those they share it with
Chris Coltrane - sex is brilliant. But enough of my boasting: Brook do such amazing work, giving young people the resources that everyone deserves to make sure they're sexual healthy. I'm proud to be supporting them
David Mills - regarding sex education - I'm all for it. And not just for young people, I'm for Continuing Sex Education'. If you still rely on the same moves you learned as a teenager it's time to go back to school. I'm all for skills sharing
Kate Smurthwaite - there is only one subject taught in schools where significant numbers of parents, teachers and politicians regularly insist that keeping children in ignorance is good for them. But ignorant children quickly grow up to become ignorant adults. The human body has an amazing capacity to experience physical pleasure. Every young person should be taught about sex in a calm and mature way that emphasises consent and safe sex and celebrates sexual diversity
Robin Ince - as a teen of the 80s I remember the terror, moral panic and misunderstanding surrounding the discovery of AIDS. For young people (indeed all people) it is important to be properly informed and advised, which is why I support Brook by saying some jokes
Shappi Khorsandi - as a big fan of sex and a supporter of young people, I think Brook does an incredibly important job and so I am glad to be part of Sex Appeal and support Brook's work
Shazia Mirza - I am doing Sex Appeal, because I might get a few tips for myself and I also used to be a science teachers so used to teach sex education all the time. All my ex-pupils will be disappointed if I don't do this gig
Vikki Stone - Teaching young people to make informed choices about the emotional and physiological minefield that is 'sex' is as important as teaching them maths or science
If you were at Sex Appeal 3 and enjoyed it and want to get involved with Brook, or missed this and want to find out more or get involved with Brook visit www.brook.org.uk/get-involved - we are always keen to welcome more people into the Brook family to come alongside us and campaign for young people's sexual rights including the right to good sex and relationships education. We have activities for everyone - join me and a team of Brookies walking a 100k in September or sign up and become a member from your arm chair - its just £10 per year and we would love you to join us in our 50th year.
Thanks again to everybody for making this happen.
I very much look forward to Sex Appeal 4.
Saturday, 8 February 2014
Remember what it feels like to be young
This week I was disproportionately cross when I saw a friend diss young people on twitter for being loud on the bus. I get even more cross with twitter spats so I text him privately to express my dismay that he was being such a stereotypical idiot about young people.
He doesn't work in the youth sector, has no professional interest and is quite direct. I was told in no uncertain terms to take my liberal views elsewhere, he had had enough. Both laughing at his juvenile insult and exasperated at his lack of self awareness, I decided to tap into the dad in him - 'imagine you heard somebody say that about your boys'. They are great lads, but they, like most of us are sometimes loud .
And so we had a sensible conversation, he conceded and deleted his 'all young people are awful' tweet. If only culture change was that easy. I have the privilege of being in an organisation that trusts young people, believes in them and wants to support them on their journey through adolescence and into adulthood. One of my new years resolutions was to spend more time seeing Brook's work in action this year, and i have got off to a good start.
Over the last few weeks I have been shadowing some of our teams across the country. The young people I have been in consultations with are actively taking responsibility for their choices and their health, they are moral agents working things out for themselves, sometimes they (like adults) get it wrong and sometimes they get hurt by others. Every single one of them deserves the trust and support of adults. It is a privilege to be on reception, in a classroom or in the consultation room watching a young person get the help they need and be put at ease by staff who respect and treasure them.
Our comments book generally tell the story of a funny attitude towards young people in wider society. They praise the service because; 'they were nice to me', 'i didn't feel judged', 'they listened', 'they answered my questions', 'they made me feel comfortable'. Brook staff are technically brilliant at what they do - with different expertise in spades across the different professions.
But the thing that unites them all is they trust young people and value their developing sexuality. Lots of youth organisations Brook works closely with share that trust and belief in young people. Our job as a sector is to create a societal culture that values young people, so they can flourish. All of us across generations will get the benefit of their energy, their humour and their ambition to change the world. It's a win win.
I asked my friend, lets call him Paul (not his real name, he consented to me telling the story as long as I didn't name him), to take a couple of minutes to remember what it felt like to be young. Try it, smile to yourself and then commit or recommit to encourage others to believe in and trust young people so we can truly help them fly.
Follow us on twitter @simonablake @brookcharity @besexpositive
He doesn't work in the youth sector, has no professional interest and is quite direct. I was told in no uncertain terms to take my liberal views elsewhere, he had had enough. Both laughing at his juvenile insult and exasperated at his lack of self awareness, I decided to tap into the dad in him - 'imagine you heard somebody say that about your boys'. They are great lads, but they, like most of us are sometimes loud .
And so we had a sensible conversation, he conceded and deleted his 'all young people are awful' tweet. If only culture change was that easy. I have the privilege of being in an organisation that trusts young people, believes in them and wants to support them on their journey through adolescence and into adulthood. One of my new years resolutions was to spend more time seeing Brook's work in action this year, and i have got off to a good start.
Over the last few weeks I have been shadowing some of our teams across the country. The young people I have been in consultations with are actively taking responsibility for their choices and their health, they are moral agents working things out for themselves, sometimes they (like adults) get it wrong and sometimes they get hurt by others. Every single one of them deserves the trust and support of adults. It is a privilege to be on reception, in a classroom or in the consultation room watching a young person get the help they need and be put at ease by staff who respect and treasure them.
Our comments book generally tell the story of a funny attitude towards young people in wider society. They praise the service because; 'they were nice to me', 'i didn't feel judged', 'they listened', 'they answered my questions', 'they made me feel comfortable'. Brook staff are technically brilliant at what they do - with different expertise in spades across the different professions.
But the thing that unites them all is they trust young people and value their developing sexuality. Lots of youth organisations Brook works closely with share that trust and belief in young people. Our job as a sector is to create a societal culture that values young people, so they can flourish. All of us across generations will get the benefit of their energy, their humour and their ambition to change the world. It's a win win.
I asked my friend, lets call him Paul (not his real name, he consented to me telling the story as long as I didn't name him), to take a couple of minutes to remember what it felt like to be young. Try it, smile to yourself and then commit or recommit to encourage others to believe in and trust young people so we can truly help them fly.
Follow us on twitter @simonablake @brookcharity @besexpositive
Sunday, 26 January 2014
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.
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.
Monday, 30 December 2013
How did young people and sexual health fare in 2013?
I enjoy the end of year reviews. They are always partial, sometimes flawed and always interesting archives – the films, the songs, the books – which ones made it and which ones bombed. So, here is mine for young people, sex, sexuality and sexual health. I put a shameless health warning on it - it is not scientific and the 'good year for, bad year for' doesn’t quite work, but I am going to squeeze a round peg into a square hole. And the only issue I am not going to put in a box is young people's voice - I think we are getting better at involving and hearing them and young people at Brook have felt heard by a number of senior politicians and decision makers this year. But it is so so important and we just have to keep getting better and better at it all the time.
I hope you enjoy reading my review as much as i have enjoyed writing it - I don't necessarily expect you to agree but I hope it triggers your own assessment of the year to give space to congratulate yourself, build your optimism and reignite your determination to succeed for young people in 2014.
A bad year for;
1. Trusting young people to be responsible about sex
The general view of immoral young people behaving more and more badly continued in 2013. It seems despite the evidence we continue to believe all young people are having sex before 16 and that far higher numbers of young people are getting pregnant whilst completely drunk or high.
At Brook this year we have worked with over 280,000 young people, and it is clear that the absolute vast majority want to be good at relationships and want to be good at sex. The National Survey of Attitudes and Lifestyles showed the average age of first sex remains at 16, and teenage pregnancy rates continue to decline.
2. Fear of technology
Technology is changing the way we live. The younger we are, the more likely it is our on and off line lives will be increasingly integrated. Technology is generally a force for good. It’s the fear of technology - not technology itself that is on the bad list. Online pornography, cyber bullying and ‘sexting' have been high on the agenda this year.
Three reasons fear of technology is on my bad list:
a) We need to think more about the way we protect, equip and empower across the spectrum from very young children and young adults. How we protect an 8 year old is very different than protection and empowerment of a 17 year old.
b) We need to listen more effectively to diverse groups of young people -including those who use new technologies well and without harm to understand the good as well as the bad. It is too easy to exclusively hear the bad experiences and believe that is the norm. Over Christmas I learnt how to use SnapChat from a 16 and 18 year old. We talked about how they and their friends use social media. It was interesting to hear their experiences of the fun and the good and how they and friends respond when it is used badly.
c) I worry we expect too much 'protection' from technological solutions such as blocking and filters alone and that we need to focus on creating a culture where young people, parents and other trusted adults know how to use technology well and to be discerning about 'good and bad content'.
3. Contraception and abortion
A few years ago the importance of contraceptive choice for women and the economic value of investing in contraception moved up the policy agenda significantly. Whilst its still early days in the heath reforms, too often at national level, contraception isn't getting the attention it deserves.
Abortion continues to be politicised and abortion providers, already well regulated, have been subject to disproportionate scrutiny this year. The law on abortion in Northern Ireland remains out of step with the rest of the UK and beyond our borders Spain's legislative changes are a worrying retrograde step in women's reproductive rights.
At www.wecantgobackwards.org.uk Brook and FPA continue to collect stories of people’s experiences of sexual health services and it’s a mixed bag. Some local areas are continuing to provide excellent contraceptive choice in their services and others less so. The All Party Parliamentary Group on Sexual and Reproductive Health report on contraception and commissioning will be published in 2014.
Given 75% of contraception is provided by GPs and commissioning of abortion services remains with Clinical Commissioning Groups it will be important to ensure contraception and abortion are on NHS England's agenda as well as the agenda of Public Health England in 2014.
4. National PSHE Policy
We know from research with children and young people and from Ofsted report, ‘PSHE, not good enough yet’, that PSHE, particularly the SRE elements, are still not good enough and leave young people vulnerable.
That is why Brook and many of our partners were so disappointed and angry that the long awaited Department for Education PSHE Review concluded no change was needed and maintained the status quo wit PSHE as a non statutory subject. As the UK enters its 25th year since ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Children’s Rights Alliance for England 'State of Children's Rights in England' report was really damning about the state of SRE.
That said the National Curriculum states PSHE is important. Ministers have repeatedly state PSHE is vital and insist it is now up to schools to decide how to do it. It is therefore time for us to work differently and for the experts to support schools and provide leadership and expert guidance.
5. Sexual Health Commissioning
Since taking on public health in April 2013 some Local Authorities have had ambitious aspirations for service redesign - innovation and ambition will be absolutely vital to meet both the services people need and the economic challenges we face.
However some of those early off the starting boards have had challenges with making change work. This led the British Association of Sexual Health and HIV and Royal College of Physicians to jointly write to all Councils to warn them of problems to service continuity in some areas as a result of commissioning decisions.
6. Counselling and early support for young people
Evidence from Youth Access and partners is showing that in many areas young people are finding it increasingly difficult to access counselling and early support. This early help is important for young people, extremely cost effective and provision is diminished at young people and society's peril.
7. Violence against Women
Rape, violence and sexual assault against women continues to be unacceptably high in the UK, and whilst there is a very welcome policy focus on violence against girls and women follow @countingdeadwomen and @womensaid to know just how much there is to be be done.
A good year for
1. The Sexual Health Improvement Framework
This long awaited framework was published in March ahead of the April 1st transition by Anna Soubry, then Public Health Minister. The Framework takes a Life Course Approach and sets out aspirations for people across the life course and its aspirations for young people which match Brook's goals for young people: good SRE for all, high quality information and services.
2. Consent, Sexual Exploitation, abuse and violence against women
These important issues have received significant policy attention across central government and the Local Government Association. The Office of the Children's Commissioner published their report on sexual exploitation; the Home Office 'This is Abuse' campaign won an award at the UK Sexual Health Awards. The PSHE Association published draft advice on teaching and learning about consent to support schools in addressing this important area.
3. Data and Evidence
The findings of the NATSAL 3 survey - the largest dataset on sex and sexuality undertaken once a decade - were published which showed the importance of sexual health services, the central role of education and a positive culture in creating positive, happy, healthy sex lives.
The first six NATSAL 3 papers provided rich sources of data and information, and there will be much more to come.
Brook and FPA, in collaboration with Reckitt Benckiser, published an important report Unprotected Nation which demonstrated the economic benefits of investment and the potential costs of disinvestment.
4. Sex and Relationships Education
2013 was the year that so many influential and sensible people acknowledged sex and relationships education makes a real difference to young people, and that talking about sex and relationships in the home, school and community is part of the solution to national and local concerns about teenage pregnancy, sexualisation, abuse and exploitation, FGM and online pornography.
NATSAL showed school based sex and relationships helps reduce teenage pregnancy and that receiving sex education mainly from a non-school based source almost doubled the odds of having an unplanned pregnancy.
Notable support for SRE came from;
UK Youth Parliament said they need a Curriculum for Life; Office of the Children’s Commissioner and Child Exploitation Online Protection (CEOP) part of the National Crime Agency said sex and relationships education should be statutory in all schools as part of national measures to reduce sexual exploitation; David Cameron said SRE is important to address the issues of online pornography in the Telegraph; Home Office supported SRE as part of its This is Abuse campaign; Department of Health emphasised the importance of SRE in their sexual health improvement framework and Department for Education said SRE was important as part of a balanced curriculum. The Teacher Unions said SRE was important to address sexualisation, pornography and ‘sexting’
Two important campaigns showed just how deep the consensus in support of SRE is;
The Telegraph Wonder Woman launched a campaign to get government to update its SRE Guidance and over 50,000 people supported their petition.
A Coalition for Consent - #yes2NC20 was established by Stella Creasey, Lisa Nandy and Sharon Hodgson to get a New Clause 20 for statutory SRE as part of the Children and Families Bill. Like the Telegraph campaign it was a galvanising moment online and in the media, and highlighted just how broad and deep support for better SRE is. It was inspiring to see bring together charities, pressure groups, MPs across the political spectrum, the public, and education bodies.
With growing support from those with influence and a recognition of its increasing urgency there has to be a step change in the provision of SRE ahead. Surely, its time has come.
5. Social media
This year has seen young people, adults and organisations use social media to provide information, to challenge, to hear oft silent and unheard voices and to campaign for change - from challenging sexism and transphobia to raising awareness of FGM.
At Brook our young people led twitter account @BeSexPositive has continued to grow and to share articles and posts about gender, sexuality, and what it means to be #sexpositive. @besexpositive made a lot of noise on #IDAHO 2013 - http://storify.com/BeSexPositive/idaho-2013
Our @brookcharity Brook focuses on policy and evidence - for example live tweeting the #OBRUK debate in Parliament on SRE. The highlights are storifyed here:http://storify.com/BrookCharity/sre-debate-in-parliament-for-obruk
The #safeXESmas @XEScampaign in partnership with @fpacharity and @durex has been very successful in getting people's attention and spreading the safe sex message. With engaging content on Twitter and Facebook and prizes to be won, it's shown how social media can get the word out to people who might not otherwise have heard it.
6. Equal Marriage
Despite the promise from some that the world would end if the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill became law, it did receive Royal Assent and another equality milestone is reached. Interestingly as @ruthhunt from Stonewall predicted the world didn't end. In fact it became a better place.
7. Teenage Pregnancy
The teenage pregnancy rates continue to decline in England. Polly Toynbee's article in the Guardian in December highlighted the success of the teenage pregnancy strategy in reducing teenage pregnancy rates and supporting young parents. Alison Hadley established the Teenage Pregnancy Knowledge Exchange based at Bedford University to maintain the knowledge and momentum from the national strategy in the new environment.
In Scotland, the Health and Sport Committee Inquiry into Teenage Pregnancy made a series of helpful recommendations and a strategy is being developed for Scotland.
As with everything 2013 has been a mixed year with good and bad when it comes to young peoeple's sexual health. 2014 will continue to see significant change that brings enormous challenge and opportunity. Brook turns 50 next year. We will be doing all we can with partners and collaborators to apply our best learning of the past 50 years to achieve our goal of enabling young people to enjoy their sexuality without harm.
Thank you to everyone at Brook as well as our partners, collaborators, funders, commissioners and supporters for hard work, commitment and support in 2013. Happy New Year. Hope 2014 brings much happiness and laughter.
I hope you enjoy reading my review as much as i have enjoyed writing it - I don't necessarily expect you to agree but I hope it triggers your own assessment of the year to give space to congratulate yourself, build your optimism and reignite your determination to succeed for young people in 2014.
A bad year for;
1. Trusting young people to be responsible about sex
The general view of immoral young people behaving more and more badly continued in 2013. It seems despite the evidence we continue to believe all young people are having sex before 16 and that far higher numbers of young people are getting pregnant whilst completely drunk or high.
At Brook this year we have worked with over 280,000 young people, and it is clear that the absolute vast majority want to be good at relationships and want to be good at sex. The National Survey of Attitudes and Lifestyles showed the average age of first sex remains at 16, and teenage pregnancy rates continue to decline.
2. Fear of technology
Technology is changing the way we live. The younger we are, the more likely it is our on and off line lives will be increasingly integrated. Technology is generally a force for good. It’s the fear of technology - not technology itself that is on the bad list. Online pornography, cyber bullying and ‘sexting' have been high on the agenda this year.
Three reasons fear of technology is on my bad list:
a) We need to think more about the way we protect, equip and empower across the spectrum from very young children and young adults. How we protect an 8 year old is very different than protection and empowerment of a 17 year old.
b) We need to listen more effectively to diverse groups of young people -including those who use new technologies well and without harm to understand the good as well as the bad. It is too easy to exclusively hear the bad experiences and believe that is the norm. Over Christmas I learnt how to use SnapChat from a 16 and 18 year old. We talked about how they and their friends use social media. It was interesting to hear their experiences of the fun and the good and how they and friends respond when it is used badly.
c) I worry we expect too much 'protection' from technological solutions such as blocking and filters alone and that we need to focus on creating a culture where young people, parents and other trusted adults know how to use technology well and to be discerning about 'good and bad content'.
3. Contraception and abortion
A few years ago the importance of contraceptive choice for women and the economic value of investing in contraception moved up the policy agenda significantly. Whilst its still early days in the heath reforms, too often at national level, contraception isn't getting the attention it deserves.
Abortion continues to be politicised and abortion providers, already well regulated, have been subject to disproportionate scrutiny this year. The law on abortion in Northern Ireland remains out of step with the rest of the UK and beyond our borders Spain's legislative changes are a worrying retrograde step in women's reproductive rights.
At www.wecantgobackwards.org.uk Brook and FPA continue to collect stories of people’s experiences of sexual health services and it’s a mixed bag. Some local areas are continuing to provide excellent contraceptive choice in their services and others less so. The All Party Parliamentary Group on Sexual and Reproductive Health report on contraception and commissioning will be published in 2014.
Given 75% of contraception is provided by GPs and commissioning of abortion services remains with Clinical Commissioning Groups it will be important to ensure contraception and abortion are on NHS England's agenda as well as the agenda of Public Health England in 2014.
4. National PSHE Policy
We know from research with children and young people and from Ofsted report, ‘PSHE, not good enough yet’, that PSHE, particularly the SRE elements, are still not good enough and leave young people vulnerable.
That is why Brook and many of our partners were so disappointed and angry that the long awaited Department for Education PSHE Review concluded no change was needed and maintained the status quo wit PSHE as a non statutory subject. As the UK enters its 25th year since ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Children’s Rights Alliance for England 'State of Children's Rights in England' report was really damning about the state of SRE.
That said the National Curriculum states PSHE is important. Ministers have repeatedly state PSHE is vital and insist it is now up to schools to decide how to do it. It is therefore time for us to work differently and for the experts to support schools and provide leadership and expert guidance.
5. Sexual Health Commissioning
Since taking on public health in April 2013 some Local Authorities have had ambitious aspirations for service redesign - innovation and ambition will be absolutely vital to meet both the services people need and the economic challenges we face.
However some of those early off the starting boards have had challenges with making change work. This led the British Association of Sexual Health and HIV and Royal College of Physicians to jointly write to all Councils to warn them of problems to service continuity in some areas as a result of commissioning decisions.
6. Counselling and early support for young people
Evidence from Youth Access and partners is showing that in many areas young people are finding it increasingly difficult to access counselling and early support. This early help is important for young people, extremely cost effective and provision is diminished at young people and society's peril.
7. Violence against Women
Rape, violence and sexual assault against women continues to be unacceptably high in the UK, and whilst there is a very welcome policy focus on violence against girls and women follow @countingdeadwomen and @womensaid to know just how much there is to be be done.
A good year for
1. The Sexual Health Improvement Framework
This long awaited framework was published in March ahead of the April 1st transition by Anna Soubry, then Public Health Minister. The Framework takes a Life Course Approach and sets out aspirations for people across the life course and its aspirations for young people which match Brook's goals for young people: good SRE for all, high quality information and services.
2. Consent, Sexual Exploitation, abuse and violence against women
These important issues have received significant policy attention across central government and the Local Government Association. The Office of the Children's Commissioner published their report on sexual exploitation; the Home Office 'This is Abuse' campaign won an award at the UK Sexual Health Awards. The PSHE Association published draft advice on teaching and learning about consent to support schools in addressing this important area.
3. Data and Evidence
The findings of the NATSAL 3 survey - the largest dataset on sex and sexuality undertaken once a decade - were published which showed the importance of sexual health services, the central role of education and a positive culture in creating positive, happy, healthy sex lives.
The first six NATSAL 3 papers provided rich sources of data and information, and there will be much more to come.
Brook and FPA, in collaboration with Reckitt Benckiser, published an important report Unprotected Nation which demonstrated the economic benefits of investment and the potential costs of disinvestment.
4. Sex and Relationships Education
2013 was the year that so many influential and sensible people acknowledged sex and relationships education makes a real difference to young people, and that talking about sex and relationships in the home, school and community is part of the solution to national and local concerns about teenage pregnancy, sexualisation, abuse and exploitation, FGM and online pornography.
NATSAL showed school based sex and relationships helps reduce teenage pregnancy and that receiving sex education mainly from a non-school based source almost doubled the odds of having an unplanned pregnancy.
Notable support for SRE came from;
UK Youth Parliament said they need a Curriculum for Life; Office of the Children’s Commissioner and Child Exploitation Online Protection (CEOP) part of the National Crime Agency said sex and relationships education should be statutory in all schools as part of national measures to reduce sexual exploitation; David Cameron said SRE is important to address the issues of online pornography in the Telegraph; Home Office supported SRE as part of its This is Abuse campaign; Department of Health emphasised the importance of SRE in their sexual health improvement framework and Department for Education said SRE was important as part of a balanced curriculum. The Teacher Unions said SRE was important to address sexualisation, pornography and ‘sexting’
Two important campaigns showed just how deep the consensus in support of SRE is;
The Telegraph Wonder Woman launched a campaign to get government to update its SRE Guidance and over 50,000 people supported their petition.
A Coalition for Consent - #yes2NC20 was established by Stella Creasey, Lisa Nandy and Sharon Hodgson to get a New Clause 20 for statutory SRE as part of the Children and Families Bill. Like the Telegraph campaign it was a galvanising moment online and in the media, and highlighted just how broad and deep support for better SRE is. It was inspiring to see bring together charities, pressure groups, MPs across the political spectrum, the public, and education bodies.
With growing support from those with influence and a recognition of its increasing urgency there has to be a step change in the provision of SRE ahead. Surely, its time has come.
5. Social media
This year has seen young people, adults and organisations use social media to provide information, to challenge, to hear oft silent and unheard voices and to campaign for change - from challenging sexism and transphobia to raising awareness of FGM.
At Brook our young people led twitter account @BeSexPositive has continued to grow and to share articles and posts about gender, sexuality, and what it means to be #sexpositive. @besexpositive made a lot of noise on #IDAHO 2013 - http://storify.com/BeSexPositive/idaho-2013
Our @brookcharity Brook focuses on policy and evidence - for example live tweeting the #OBRUK debate in Parliament on SRE. The highlights are storifyed here:http://storify.com/BrookCharity/sre-debate-in-parliament-for-obruk
The #safeXESmas @XEScampaign in partnership with @fpacharity and @durex has been very successful in getting people's attention and spreading the safe sex message. With engaging content on Twitter and Facebook and prizes to be won, it's shown how social media can get the word out to people who might not otherwise have heard it.
6. Equal Marriage
Despite the promise from some that the world would end if the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill became law, it did receive Royal Assent and another equality milestone is reached. Interestingly as @ruthhunt from Stonewall predicted the world didn't end. In fact it became a better place.
7. Teenage Pregnancy
The teenage pregnancy rates continue to decline in England. Polly Toynbee's article in the Guardian in December highlighted the success of the teenage pregnancy strategy in reducing teenage pregnancy rates and supporting young parents. Alison Hadley established the Teenage Pregnancy Knowledge Exchange based at Bedford University to maintain the knowledge and momentum from the national strategy in the new environment.
In Scotland, the Health and Sport Committee Inquiry into Teenage Pregnancy made a series of helpful recommendations and a strategy is being developed for Scotland.
As with everything 2013 has been a mixed year with good and bad when it comes to young peoeple's sexual health. 2014 will continue to see significant change that brings enormous challenge and opportunity. Brook turns 50 next year. We will be doing all we can with partners and collaborators to apply our best learning of the past 50 years to achieve our goal of enabling young people to enjoy their sexuality without harm.
Thank you to everyone at Brook as well as our partners, collaborators, funders, commissioners and supporters for hard work, commitment and support in 2013. Happy New Year. Hope 2014 brings much happiness and laughter.
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