to be offended by this as a homophobic policy in a school?

[Section28WasRepealed]

I have just come across a 'Sex Education and RE' document from a prestigious school in Birmingham - a very diverse city, obviously.

There are a few points in it which raise my eyebrows, but this document, dated September 2010, basically promotes Section 28 - the homophobic legislation which had to be repealed after a lengthy campaign, and has since been apologised for by David Cameron.

The most offensive parts to my mind are:

The school has a responsibility to ensure that pupils understand those aspects of the law which relate to sexual activity and cannot avoid tackling controversial sexual matters such as homosexuality, AIDS, contraception and abortion. On these particular matters:-
i. There is no place for teaching which advocates homosexual behaviour, which presents it as the 'norm', or which encourages homosexual experimentation by pupils.

and

If the teacher believes that a pupil has embarked upon, or is contemplating, a course of conduct likely to place him or her in moral or physical danger, or in breach of the law, the teacher has a general duty to warn the pupil of the risks and may, depending on the circumstances and the professional judgements involved, advise the parents, Head Teacher, or specialist support services.

Perhaps homosexuality is not the norm, but it is a norm. What is wrong with advocating it? It is an absolutely valid orientation and not a choice which can be influenced anyway. How can one defend a child against homophobic bullying without being a defender of their right to be sexually attracted to somebody of the same sex?!

& just what is 'moral danger'? Who judges it? & in context of this document and the other points expressed, do we want the author of said document to be making such judgements about our children?

So basically, AIBU to think that this is incredibly badly worded, at best? Or is this normal and even acceptable within schools?

OP, yes it would have been wrong whether it was heterosexual / homosexual, whatever. The second paragraph could be applied to any kind of relationship and the fact that my example was a homosexual one can be ascribed to the fact it was an all girl's school. As a stand alone paragraph, therefore, the second one is fine.

It's the first paragraph I would be complaining about.

MillyR - it was because of the potential for abuse that the school took action. I don't know, and neither did the school, that she is entirely heterosexual. The point I was trying to make, albeit it badly, is not that the act itself was any worse, but to try and emphasise that it was because my friend was troubled that she got sucked in, not that she was a lesbian.

It doesn't matter what's being taught in schools re; homosexuality/marriage etc - children aren't stupid, they know the teachers are reading from a script sent down by the PC brigade. Children learn homophobia ( or not ) from their parents and peers - teachers could talk all day about homosexuality being 'the norm' - but if children are going home to homophobic households it's a waste of time.

This is what's wrong with schools having policies up the gazoo about everything. Most the teachers at the school won't really agree with the objectionable clause either, and will quietly ignore it anyway (if they clock it at all).

I don't really like schools promoting much of any type of sexuality as "the norm" or not. Promoting healthy self esteem and mutual respect, understanding of biology and risk, sounds like the right things.

Rycooler, I don't think it is a waste of time. Many children grow up in emotionally abusive or turbulent home environments and many children have peers that act in an unpleasant manner.

Going into a caring school environment can be a lifeline for many children. It can be the one stable and compassionate place in their whole life. Even one teacher can make a difference to a child who is unsupported elsewhere.

That will apply just as much to the gay teen of homophobic parents as it will apply to any other sort of teen with unsupportive parents. It is exactly because of the attitudes of parents that schools need to act responsibly and make sure children are treated with respect.

Rycooler, that's simply not true. As an example, my parents are ill-educated racists, yet I am not because I learned tolerance at school.

MillyR - yes, that's so true, but I wonder how many children would confide in a teacher about his or her sexuality? I do agree that young people should have a responsible, caring adult to talk to ( and for a lot of us that wasn't ( or isn't ) our parents ) teachers can make a real difference if their heart is in it.

Xposts CP.

I'm not convinced that many children would confide in a teacher, but I think that the school can support children more widely, by providing a promoting a generally tolerant and caring environment, and by having role models within the school for this kind of behaviour.

I don't know why my son's school's policy on sex education is, but I think that their policy on gender stereotyping (which was actually set up to prevent underachievement of boys) helps reduce homophobic bullying and taunts - although it certainly hasn't eradicated them.

A good friend of mine has a son who was in trouble for being disruptive in Year 8. He was sent up to the upper site where he was placed in a group of other 'disruptives' and part of their therapy was to sit in a circle and then take turns to think of all the different terms for 'homosexual'

Why?

Is this okay?

I don't consider it to be so.

itsokay, what does that have to do with anything?

Promotion:1:a message issued in behalf of some product or cause or idea or person or institution; 2:act of raising in rank or position; 3:encouragement of the progress or growth or acceptance of something; 4:the advancement of some enterprise.

=============================

Meaning of the word promotion.

Homosexuality would be promoted within this context, which I wouldn't want to occur in any school that my child attended.

It has to do with the promotion of homosexuality within the school environment.

What on earth are you on about?

I'm not convinced that many children would confide in a teacher

We have a lot of openly gay 6th formers here. They don't care and neither do we I think it's great they can be so open and get the support they need to give them confidence to tell their parents.

itsokay - has your friend's son Caught The Gay now?

In what universe is that promoting homosexuality in the school environment?

It's a bizarre treatment for disruptive behaviour.

I don't think it is. It sounds very similar to something I once did in a RE lesson several years back, which was intended to get all the stupidity out of our systems so we could then take the topic of prejudice based on sexuality seriously.

Read the definition of what the word promotion means and you will see.

It is a bizarre treatment for disruption.

Wow - that's a strange sort of behaviour therapy - I'd love to have heard the replies

Oh I see. They were being disruptive in a lesson about sexuality? That makes more sense.

No, just generally disruptive. Not in any particular lesson. This was done as a group exercise for all the children who'd been sent to that particular site for 'punishment' or whatever it's known as these days.....reprogramming perhaps.

Seems very sensible and realistic to me.

I would think by saying 'not advocating homosexuality or presenting it as a norm' the school is being reasonable. Only a small minority of people are gay. If you are gay though it probably seems like more if you have lots of friends who are also gay. If the children have 10 sex ed lessons I would think only one of them would need to be about homosexuality. If it were given equal coverage in terms of time that would give the impression that it's as 'normal' as heterosexuality (in terms of numbers of people) that is clearly untrue and would be a distortion. I can easily imagine a teacher trying to be seen to be 'fair' and actually swinging too far the other way. ('scuse the awful pun).

Norm doesn't mean normal, it means what most people do and most people are straight.

Re the OP, perhaps it is becoming clear that the word 'promote' is a bizarre and unsuitable choice in this context

Did parents complain? - they would have in our school - in fact they'd probably pull their kids out of the school completely.