Blindfish RSE

This week we got news that finally Michael Give has consented to provide some government guidance on SRE issues like consent, sexting, porn and partner violence. Michael is doing some thing very right consulting three key groups of the pshe association, Brook and the sec education forum. All three have a great appreciation of the key issues and I'm sure they will produce good recommendations. This guidance will be a great help to school. But Gove is still saying that the 2000 guidance will remain and this new guidance will be more of a suggestion. With Gove's consistent claim we should leave it to the  teachers to decide what they will teach. Putting aside the inconsistencies in provision for UK young people. This seems to be the opposite method Gove has been following for the rest of the curriculum. He has looked to standardise what all young people learn of academic subjects in an attempt to raise standards. A nobel cause, yet SRE does not appear to enjoy the same attention...

This is my initial thoughts in response to the governments launch of a new National Curriculum. But before we get into the details its important to remember that not every school in the country will need to follow the curriculum, academies do not have to follow the curriculum. As with every curriculum their will also be a fair amount of school interpretation for any part of the curriculum that does not make it onto a test. So I believe this National Curriculum should be seen as the governments rough idea of what it thinks should be happening. I think locally things will be delivered differently depending on Head Teachers, Heads of Subjects etc. This is my quick skim through with a SRE perspective please correct me if I make any mistakes of miss something important.  ***UPDATE 09-07-13*** The Sex Education Forum has released this short response   it does a great job of providing a clear summary of the key points, much more concise than my rambli...

Treating the Sex Ed past of america as a learning opportunity Just posting this info graphic by a guy called G reg Voakes  who contacted me letting me know it was online to be shared (thank you). Whilst it is focused on the USA lots of the statistics are very informative for our work in Chester and the UK. I have always thought about the USA as a grand experiment in SRE approaches, we different approaches applied in entire states. But the experiment should be wrapped up. I think that it has conclusively proven that abstinence only education is not effective and that condom only education is not enough. We need comprehensive education that covers it all from the right to say no, emotional well being, relationships, STIs and contraceptives. (plus in my opinion, sex and technology for the next generation)  Created by: PublicHealthDegree.com

This week I have read 3 separate stories (just on BBC) all talking about how the internet is negatively impacting the sexual health of the nation. Young get sex health warning http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14837229 MPs told young children accessing explicit porn http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14845299 .XXX web domain registration begins http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14821192 Now the third one might be a bit unconnected but the discussion around it all fits. What is the modern impact of all the sexual content on the internet. For one year I have been teaching on the issue of "sexting" in secondary schools. Working hard to try and help young people understand the emotional consequences of taking the risk of sharing naked or provocative pictures. This work has opened up my perspective to the much larger area of the impact of digital sexual content. Trying to do research on this topic is a lot harder then looking at STIs. Emotional and social consequences can not b...

On Wednesday the 24th of November Education Secretary Michael Gov set out his white paper The Importance of Teaching I am both happy that SRE is mentioned and sad that it is so brief I can quote it in full, but does it mean anything for us teaching SRE in schools? 4.29 Children need high-quality sex and relationships education so they can make wise and informed choices. We will work with teachers, parents, faith groups and campaign groups such as Stonewall to make sure sex and relationships education encompasses an understanding of the ways in which humans love each other and stresses the importance of respecting individual autonomy. Firstly great to see the government honestly stating that high-quality SRE is needed. It falls short of saying that it is needed in schools which is a shame, this does leave wiggle room for them to possibly claim that yes it is needed but not in school. The 4 groups it states it will work with is good but again it falls short it is missing an important ele...