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Original poster

New consultation on Relationships and Sexuality Education in schools in Wales

32 replies

OldCrone · 24/02/2019 13:49

For anyone in Wales (or anyone else who wants to participate), a new consultation was launched last week. It's open until April 1st.

beta.gov.wales/draft-guidance-relationships-and-sexuality-education

beta.gov.wales/sites/default/files/consultations/2019-02/relationships-and-sexuality-education-in-schools-guidance.pdf

This consultation stems from the Sex and Relationship Expert Panel’s report entitled “Informing the future of the Sex and Relationships Curriculum in Wales”

www.cardiff.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/1030606/informing-the-future-of-the-sex-and-relationships-education-curriculum-in-wales-web.pdf

OP posts:
MillytantForceit · 12/03/2019 15:47

Strange bedfellows and all that, this lot come with a health warning. They are homophobic and Islamophobic.

That said, this is instructive:

www.christianconcern.com/our-issues/family-and-sexual-ethics/the-abusers-behind-the-idea-that-children-have-a-gender-identity

Imnobody4 · 12/03/2019 15:39

MillytantForceit
Just checked this link and author rang a bell. Looked him up.
He's a convicted paedophile. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43075546
Will this never end.

Ineedacupofteadesperately · 12/03/2019 15:39

(sorry if derailing but that phrase just gives me the rage)

Ineedacupofteadesperately · 12/03/2019 15:37

I want to bang my head against a wall every time I hear "assigned at birth" - how on earth has this pile of completely inaccurate and insulting unscientific bollocks gone unchallenged for so long and got into so many government documents?

Doctors and midwives don't flip a pink/blue coin. Sex is observed at birth it is in no way assigned. It is so very, very insulting to the medical profession to say this as if they're making stuff up and messing with people's lives. They're not. And sometimes (and I suspect increasingly) sex established as fact via genetic testing (as it was for DD2).

MillytantForceit · 12/03/2019 15:24

International treaties such as UNCRC must be interpreted. A body of precedent and practice develops over time. The most recent handbook on implimentation dates from 2007

www.unicef.org/publications/files/Implementation_Handbook_for_the_Convention_on_the_Rights_of_the_Child_Part_1_of_3.pdf

.....and on page 115, relating to Article 8, it states:

Name, nationality and family are only some elements of identity. Other aspects of identity include:

...and among the list of additional considerations covered by Article 8:

the child’s physical appearance, abilities, gender identity and sexual orientation.

This was the product of lobbying.

Original poster
OldCrone · 12/03/2019 14:44

After another look at the consultation, it appears to be only aimed at teachers and others working in schools, so I'm not sure if they are expecting responses from the general public.

The report on which changes are to be based says this about gender identity:

Gender identity
‘Gender identity’ is used in this report to refer to a person’s inner sense of self. Gender identity does not necessarily relate to the sex a person is assigned at birth. Feelings about gender identity start early, around the age of 2-3

The author of the report is Emma Renold, Professor of Childhood Studies at Cardiff University. I don't know much about her, but had a quick look at one of her papers, in which she cited Sally Hines.

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Original poster
OldCrone · 24/02/2019 13:56

I'm still working my way through all the documents, but the draft guidance states:

The Welsh Government is fully committed to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

Protective and preventative RSE is informed by many of the protective articles embedded in the UNCRC. ... Article 8 [covers] the right to an identity (including gender and sexual identity)

I thought this looked a bit odd, so I looked up Article 8. This is what it actually says:

Article 8
1. States Parties undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognized by law without unlawful interference.
2. Where a child is illegally deprived of some or all of the elements of his or her identity, States Parties shall provide appropriate assistance and protection, with a view to re-establishing speedily his or her identity.

That's it. Absolutely nothing about 'gender and sexual identity'. You'd think the people writing a government consultation could find 30 seconds to find out what an international convention actually said, instead of making it up, or getting a garbled version from Stonewall or somewhere.

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