An update from PSHE Association:
The Government responded this week to the Women and Equalities Committee report into sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools.
The report called for statutory PSHE education amongst its extensive recommendations. In its response, the Government stated that the case for further action regarding statutory PSHE and sex and relationships education (SRE) is “actively under review” but failed to make any further commitment to strengthening the subject’s status at this stage.
A PSHE Association statement described this as a “missed opportunity” and while welcoming the recognition of PSHE and SRE’s importance in the Government response, we called for urgent action on statutory status to improve quality in all schools and address a worrying decline in curriculum time allocated to PSHE in recent years.
Prompted by the Government response, Chairs of five Parliamentary Select Committees have written a joint letter to Education Secretary Justine Greening today calling on the Government to make PSHE and SRE statutory. The letter expresses regret at failure to “seize the opportunity” provided by the Women and Equalities Committee report and urges the Education Secretary to give “serious thought” to making PSHE statutory to address the “lifelong consequences” for children and young people of patchy or inadequate PSHE.
There were also numerous calls for Government action on PSHE and SRE from teaching unions and leading organisations, with NAHT stating in its response that the case for statutory PSHE was “becoming unarguable”.
Barnardo’s, NSPCC, Sex Education Forum and Girlguiding were amongst leading organisations calling for change. The Girlguiding youth Advocate panel response was particularly powerful, stating that:
“We are among the girls and young women across the country who have been severely let down by the Government’s response today. Girls are being sexually harassed at school every day and this can have a devastating impact on their confidence and ability to flourish. We feel the Government has missed a crucial opportunity to make schools safer for all young people, by not going far enough in their action to tackle this issue.”
The PSHE Association hopes that the Government will listen to the concerns of these Committee Chairs, leading organisations, parents and most importantly young people themselves and make this necessary change as soon as possible.