Are school teachers ready for the new sex education curriculum?

From September 2020 it will be compulsory to teach Sex and Relationships education to secondary school pupils and Relationships education in all primary schools in England.

By Manon Dark

Photo by Bantersnaps on Unsplash

In a study by the NSPCC children’s charity and National Education Union, more than 2,000 teachers were asked if they felt prepared for the new mandatory relationships and sexual education (RSE) lessons.

The survey found that 47% of these educators say they lack confidence to teach the compulsory RSE classes.

Dolly Padalia, Director of the sex education charity Sexplain, says that when she has spoken to teachers “there is a lot of anxiety around delivering [RSE] and not being sure of what they can or cannot say”.

Ms Padalia explains how this can be resolved with more investment and resources. But she highlights how the new curriculum is not modern enough.

“There is a very general lack of support for young people around digital issues such as nudes, dick pics and pornography,” she says.

Sex educator and social psychologist, Leah Spasova, believes the lack of proper investment undermines the new RSE curriculum. She says: “Bad education is worse than no education.

“A lot of teachers are forced into teaching [RSE] classes when they don’t have the appropriate training or feel comfortable to talk about vulvas or penises.”

Although some schools have already started to incorporate the new RSE curriculum, the true effects of these mandatory lessons will not be seen until after September 2020.