A Bath woman who specialises in training teachers how to give lessons in sex and relationship education has been nominated for a national award.
Alice Hoyle, who lives in Newbridge and works for the RSE Hub in the South West, has been shortlisted for Sexual Health Professional of the Year at the UK Sexual Health Awards.
She started her career as a secondary school science teacher, but a stint working on HIV and Aids programmes in South Africa highlighted the importance of sex education.
When the mother of two returned to the UK she decided to specialise in personal, health, social and economic education (PHSE).
Since moving to Bath three and a half years ago, her work has involved building teachers’ confidence in giving “age and stage appropriate” lessons in sex education.
However, it was a personal battle challenging the Department for Education on the way sexual orientation and gender identity appeared in the new national curriculum and school policies, that led to the nomination.
Mrs Hoyle, 32, who recently achieved a distinction for her masters dissertation on challenging homophobia in schools, said: “I think it is incredibly important that children are taught about relationships in school and in my experience it improves outcomes in other areas of education as well.
“Teaching children and young people about respect, communication and consent creates an environment where they feel comfortable, and you can see that in schools that have outstanding health and wellbeing provision there is also an impact on other parts of school life.”
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