The Sex Education Forum Calls On Teachers To Take Part In Online Survey On SRE

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 23 Apr 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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The Sex Education Forum (SEF) launches an online survey to find out what teachers need in order to offer good quality sex and relationships education (SRE) to young people.

The SEF - the national authority on SRE, is working with the PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic education) Association to ask teachers what will enable them to improve quality and consistency in sex and relationships education. This survey is a call to action to teachers, as the results will be included in the government's review of SRE - as per its commitment in the Children's Plan.

Anna Martinez, head of the SEF, said: 'We know that the advice teachers give to young people about sex and relationships is vital. A 2008 survey by RUThinking found that more young people got advice from a teacher about sex and relationships than from any other source, however, 40% of young people rated their SRE as 'poor' or 'very poor' in a 2007 survey*. This survey gives teachers of SRE an opportunity to say what they think is needed to improve the quality of SRE, for example stronger national guidance about what should be taught or more support from the head and governors in their school.

Martinez continued: At the SEF we want to ensure that all young people receive good quality sex and relationships education. But we know there is a big gap between the SRE they want and what they actually receive. By offering teachers a range of tools and resources, we hope to counter the current problems of lack of knowledge (73% of SRE teachers surveyed lacked adequate information about accessing local sexual health services**). We want teachers to be well equipped to teach the emotional implications of sex and relationships as well as the biological ones.'

Sarah Smart, Development Manager, PSHE Association, said: 'Many people may not realise that Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education remains a non-statutory curriculum subject. As a result it suffers lower status and is a subject in which teachers cannot specialise, and for which they are not trained during their initial teacher training. The Association is working with the SEF to ensure that all children and young people receive consistent and high quality SRE within their schools' PSHE education provision.'

Teachers interested in completing the survey should visit http://www.ncb.org.uk/sef or http://www.ncb.org.uk/sef.

*UK Youth Parliament (2007) 'SRE: Are you getting it?' UK Youth Parliament, London
**Westwood, J., & Mullan, B, (2007) 'Knowledge and attitudes of secondary school teachers regarding sexual health education in England' in Sex Education, Volume 7: Issue 2, pp. 143-159

Notes

1. The Sex Education Forum is the national authority on sex and relationships education (SRE). It believes that good quality SRE is an entitlement for all children and young people and is working with its 50 member organisations - including religious, children's, parents and governor, health and education organisations - to achieve this.

2. NCB promotes the voices, interests and well-being of all children and young people across every aspect of their lives. As an umbrella body for the children's sector in England and Northern Ireland, we provide essential information on policy, research and best practice for our members and other partners. For further information visit http://www.ncb.org.uk.

3. The PSHE Association is a membership organisation which aims to raise the status and quality of PSHE education provision by working with schools, teachers and other professionals to ensure that all PSHE education teachers are confident and skilled in providing children and young people's entitlement to excellent PSHE education, increasing its impact on, and relevance to, children and young people in the twenty first century. Our vision is for high quality PSHE education teaching and learning in every school, planned and delivered by confident skilled practitioners who are recognised and valued for the job they do.

http://www.ncb.org.uk