The Welsh Government want your views on revised guidance on sex and relationships education for the current curriculum. The draft guidance on relationships and sexuality education was launched on February 18th and will close on April 1st.
The government and its Minister for Education Kirsty Williams, are consulting on the draft update of relationships and sexuality guidance, which would:
- change the name of the area of study from ‘Sex and Relationships Education’ to ‘Relationships and Sexuality Education’ (RSE)
- support schools to structure RSE more closely to the way it will work in the new curriculum
- promote a ‘whole school approach’ which links provision, policy, staff and community to RSE
The consultation recommends Relationships and Sexuality Education for 3 to 16 year olds and also suggests a range of approaches to enhance learning around ‘gender equity and LGBTQ+issues’, to challenge ‘gender stereotypes ‘ and to provide ‘learner-led, teacher supervised research on key topics (e.g. gender stereotypes in retail and advertising)’ . The consultation also discusses parents’ and carers’ rights to withdraw their child from sex education if they so wish.
A consultation on the whole Welsh curriculum, titled ‘Our National Mission: A Transformational Curriculum’ can be found here and is also open for comments and suggestions by anyone until March 25th.
Leading education groups and leaders in Wales have responded vehemently to the plan for a new curriculum, including the sex education propsals, stating that pupils are not taught about things that really matter and that teachers have lost faith in the way that these radical changes are being developed.
(Main photo by The people’s choice under CC BY 2.0 licence)
