A new RSE curriculum coming to a school near you

[koteczek]

In the coming year schools will be introducing a whole new RSE curriculum. They are legally obliged to consult parents about the contents of this curriculum. Originally it was going to be introduced in September 2020 but due to covid the possibility of consulting was made very difficult and therefore schools have been allowed to delay this introduction until the beginning of the summer term September 2021.

Do make sure that your school consults you. If you would like to know more about your parental rights please see the Values Foundation values.foundation/. If you would like to know more about the resources available please see the following review www.rsereview.org/ Here is a link to resources which are less likely to sexualise your child than some of the more mainstream resources rseauthentic.uk/ Here is a video about some of the resources with links provided at the end for those who would like to know more

If I might give you some quotes from the text book "Great Relationships and Sex Education" by Hoyle (Sex Education Forum) and McGeeney (Brook) - a mainstream book described by the Times Education Forum as something which should be "On every sex educators shelf"

Firstly it has activities for 13 year olds where they write down where it feels good to be touched and how the whole body is a potential site of pleasure...it says "Emphasise that pleasure is a whole body experience that can involve all our senses whether we are experiencing pleasure through exercise, food, intimacy , playing music or having sex. Understanding what feels good in your own body can help you to maximise the enjoyable experience you have and communicate to others what you do and do not enjoy..." etc .

In the Pleasure and Sexuality section participants (13+) are involved in a relaxation activity the aim of which is to learn to "keep your expectations around sexual pleasure rooted in who you are and what you enjoy in your everyday life".

Another activity "Sensuality star ": "An activity that uses object- based learning as a stimulusfor discussions around sensuality. Enables converations about relaxation and wellbeing for young participants and sexual pleasure and sensuality for older participants".

In an activity for 14+ "you can also talk about the importance of the five senses in sexual situations, emphasising that how and where you have sex can make a difference to how you feel about the experience". They go on to discuss various ways to "stimulate the five senses when having sex".

Another exercise says that while for the younger age groups they can use a particular activity to explore sexual readiness for "older groups it can form part of sessions on pleasure and consent".

....Another activity: "Ask participants to write a list of the different ways they can think of being intimate of sexual with another person"....

And another "This is a creative activity that asks participants to work on their own or in small groups to research sexual response, orgasm, arousal and/ or pleasure and provide a creative response.

But before pleasure they learn about their bodies so on p.169 of the book 13 year olds are asked to write a song called Ode to the Clitoris after watching the following video (which has been removed from you tube) www.refinery29.com/en-us/clitoris-clitopia-music-video?utm_source=tumblr.com&utm_medium=post)

Anyway, don't tell me you don't teach young people about how to obtain sexual pleasure. I have a whole book about it in front of me.

@Helpmyhair2019

And children aren’t being ‘encouraged’ to masturbate. They are being assured that if they choose to then it’s perfectly normal and nothing to be ashamed of!!!!

I think this is encouraging children to masturbate. www.bishuk.com/sex/omg-yes-not-for-me-hmmm-working-out-what-sex-you-want-to-have-2/

@sirfredfredgeorge

Nor am I aware of any religious pressure in education

Are you even in the UK? You know large numbers of schools are denominational? As for evidence of pressure placed on schools by religious organisations, can I point to a post by @koteczek referencing various christian websites to put pressure on schools about how they teach RSE?

If large numbers of schools are denominational that is because parents are choosing them. This reflects the fact that those schools are more likely to be respecting the manner in which parents seek to bring up their children . Following the Nazi's attempts to indoctrinate children this was enshrined in UN law "Remember: UK law upholds the right of parents to guide the education of their children as fundamental and protected. This is particularly true of educational content which has a moral character; schools MUST NOT undermine the manner in which parents seek to bring up their children. Schools MUST respect the manner in which you seek to raise your children in accordance with your own religious or philosophical convictions. "https://values.foundation/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Retaining-Values-in-RSE-for-Parents-v1.5.pdf

So this is not about religious pressure. This is about parents voting with their feet.

We reach children to recognise positive healthy/unhealthy relationships be they friends or in a relationship. Online safety, bullying, healthy eating, exercise, consent, making informed decisions, equality, safeguarding, conception, hygiene, changes and that's about it. This is pretty much what was already taught previously. Parent consultation has already happened as there was little to change. There is little actual sex involved in SRE.

That Bish website you linked to says "this website is not meant to be used in the classroom".

I’m not religious at all. I am a teacher and school governor covering primary and secondary. I know what’s required of schools. I also know what some schools have bought into by virtue of diversity work, aiming for rainbow awards and seeing a need to represent different types of family and be inclusive.

None of these aims is evil (although misleading information about the Equality Act or changing sex or multiple genders worries me). But there have been a number of organisations, with links to unions, the PHSE association and local authorities (so schools would perceive endorsements from reputable bodies) which absolutely have circulated materials that normalise anal sex, describe practices involving multiple boys/solo girl, and one recently withdrawn after protests, in which a six year old giving oral sex was presented with no hint that it was problematic.

And yes, some of these organisations are funded by the DfE and get PR via the official departmental Twitter feed.

I think parents do need to be made aware in much more detail of the content being presented to their DCs.

Extremist religious views should not be allowed to interfere with children's RSE (or any) education. We need to teach the next generation to be tolerant loving people and if parents wont do it then schools will have to fill the gap.

There's nothing wrong with masturbation. There's nothing wrong with casual sex. There's nothing wrong with multiple sexual partners.

There is a lot wrong with children not knowing healthy relationships (whether casual or serious). Not understanding consent. Not knowing how to keep themselves safe.

All absolutely true BKCRMP, but I do also agree with the OP that teaching masturbation techniques which are less likely to lead to problems when having sex is a good thing to inform children about. "death-grip-syndrome" etc.

@TheFallenMadonna

That Bish website you linked to says "this website is not meant to be used in the classroom".

It is presented in the book "Great Relationships and Sex Education" as "This is a UK-based website with lots of information for 14+ young people on sex, sexual health, relationships and much more. It is positive, critical and informative. The site uses great graphics ad short films, as well as blogs and information, making it very accessible and user friendly for young people". So let's just hope that when teachers points their pupils to it they don't miss the note like I did that says "this isn't meant to be used in the classroom"

@BKCRMP

There's nothing wrong with masturbation. There's nothing wrong with casual sex. There's nothing wrong with multiple sexual partners.

There is a lot wrong with children not knowing healthy relationships (whether casual or serious). Not understanding consent. Not knowing how to keep themselves safe.

Those who engage in multiple short term relationships are more likely to get stds and less likely to remain married. I suspect they are also less likely to have as much sex or as enjoyable sex.

It may be that the problems in mental health that we see in young people are related to them thinking they can have multiple short term relationships and end up happy.

But you are entitled to your views. I just hope you are not a teacher.

You clearly have an agenda.

I have been campaigning for better sex education for years. I'm actually half way through my PhD on the subject too. RSE is VITAL for all children. They need to know about their bodies, growing up, safe sex, healthy relationships, consent, homosexuality and dozens of other things. I also have a huge issue with you being against children being taught that pleasure is the primary function of sex. For the vast majority of a person's life that is exactly what it is.

Good parents are aware that their children need to be taught all of the above. The incoming RSE policy is welcomed (and way overdue) by the vast majority. There is mountains of research showing that RSE does not over-sexualise children, it educates and empowers them to be able to discuss sex and sexuality and participate in healthy relationships.

Also there seems to be evidence that the fewer sexual partners you have had when you get married the more likely your marriage is to survive

NSFG studies suggest this is connected to the tendency for those with fewest sexual partners to be religious, and thus more likely to feel pressure to stick with a failing marriage than divorce. So these people aren't happier, they are stuck in unhappy relationships but feel unable to get out of them because of religious pressure.

Look, we get it - you want people to stick with sex within marriage, ideally only for procreation. However, the vast majority of the UK doesn't agree with you.