Should Sex Education be Taught within a Moral Context?

A report from the Government has shown that parents want sexual health education to be taught in its “moral context” with an emphasis on marriage and the importance of the legal age of consent. However, the Government has emphasised that the content of sex education lessons will be entrusted to individual schools, and not dictated by a nationwide policy.

In the official consultation, over half of the respondents believed it was essential that sex and relationship classes promote emotional wellness, ensuring that children respect themselves and ‘value their own bodies’. Published by the Department for Education (DfE), the report also found that many people believe ‘teaching about abstinence before marriage should be taught alongside contraception.’

Almost 700 people responded to the consultation, with parents making up the biggest single group. The document detailed that 52% of people believed it was ‘essential that sex and relationships education must place sexual relationships within a clear and objective moral context.’ It added, ‘Respondents were of the opinion that commitment and fidelity in sexual relationships were no less important than sexual consent, and the emphasis should be on having respect for themselves and others. It was also put forward that teaching about ‘abstinence’ before marriage should be taught alongside contraception.’

The DfE have outlined a new system in which schools will be tasked to draw up their own curriculum covering personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE). This is a non-compulsory subject through which sex education lessons are delivered. According to Ministers, teachers are ‘best placed to understand the needs of their pupils’ without the need for ‘central prescription’ from Whitehall. PSHE’s trade body, the PSHE Association, will therefore be handed a DfE grant to provide advice to schools, being told to ‘promote the teaching of consent as part of sex and relationships education’, the DfE said.

However, campaign groups have become infuriated by the move to devolve subject content to schools. Paul Tuohy from Mentor, the children’s alcohol and drug protection charity, said, ‘We knew this was coming but even so the sheer incompetence of Government is breathtaking.’ According to Brook, a leading provider of sexual health services, the review was ‘not a very funny joke’ which would lead to the subject being downgraded. In a statement, it said, ‘Clearly the Department for Education has not been looking at the same evidence as the rest of us or listening to the views of children and young people themselves.’