The UK government has released new plans for relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) in primary and secondary schools in England. This would see age parameters introduced for key issues in sex education, with no education on sex at all for children under the age of nine.
A consultation on these plans has been launched. If adopted, this guidance will diminish years of progress in how young people are educated about sex and relationships – education that keeps them safe. The recommendations set out in the policy are in direct conflict with many years of research in this area of education.
The age limits in the new draft guidance set out that puberty should not be taught before year four, when pupils are aged eight and nine. Sex education, which should be in line with what children learn in science about conception and birth – the “factual description of conception in the science curriculum” – shouldn’t be taught before year five, when children are nine and ten.
