Primary Age Sex Ed Scotland

[purplebutterflybiscuits]

My children's school have sent a brief note out that sex ed will be starting soon and to contact the school if you have any questions. I was just wondering how to approach this. It is a small school with very experienced teachers and I am relatively confident that the content will be science based and accurate, but I feel that I shouldn't just assume this given the current situation around sex / gender / gender identity etc.
I had a look at safe schools alliance template letters but feel they were a bit "too much". I just want to quietly check while not flagging myself up as a loon. To complicate the situation, I work for the local authority and it is basically my own boss I will need to send the enquiry to. Any advice much appreciated.

You may already be aware but the national resources for this are available at rshp.scot - might help you hone in on the elements that are concerning.

Thanks.

My children's school have sent a brief note out that sex ed will be starting soon and to contact the school if you have any questions. I was just wondering how to approach this.

In the first instance a simple message of thanks for the invitation to be involved and expressing an interest in knowing what the syllabus will be specifically for your child/ren's year group.
A worthwhile supplementary question is whether the school is basing its lesson planning in particular resources from external organisations/charity.

We used to put on an after school meeting to explain what we'd be covering. Could you ask them to do this?

Hi Warrior, I have heard of this happening in the past, and assumed a parent meeting is not planned this time due to current covid restrictions, but I think I might ask about it and see what they say.

Thanks R0wan, that sound like a good approach, much appreciated.

I had concerns about how issues of gender identity/transgender would be handled and emailed the headteacher to express my concerns. I asked that my child not partake in sessions involving discussions on transgenderism. Another parent also emailed saying similar. The head, it turned out, is also gender critical and had no intention of discussing anything other than science based biological sex education. Which was a relief.

@purplebutterflybiscuits

Hi Warrior, I have heard of this happening in the past, and assumed a parent meeting is not planned this time due to current covid restrictions, but I think I might ask about it and see what they say.

Thanks R0wan, that sound like a good approach, much appreciated.

Good point but they could easily do a zoom

I have a child in primary school Scotland. We've had parent meetings on teams so that should not be an issue. What's covered seems to vary by school even in the same authority so it's worth checking as you want them to be able to talk to you after if they wish (mine hate talking about anything to do with sex or pubity unless they are in a very silly mood in which case they find it hillarious so I'm afraid there are no serious conversations happening here!)

Hi thanks for all your help on this. I have read through the resourses and am happy with most of the content. I would like to enquire further about the following slides though as I am concerned that it seems a bit confusing and contradictory (especially for 10 to 12 year olds).

I would like to see what others think but depending on how it was explained to the children, I find it strange that they are teaching the (wonderful) message of challenging sexist stereotypes and you can be "any kind of girl or boy you want" alongside - some people don't "feel inside" like the sex they are and then go on to "live as" the other sex. I think I would like the school to explain further what "feeling like" or " living as" mean here.

I have tried to reply several times but am struggling to articulate it.

Thanks in advance.

Those slides are truly nasty OP.

Mention the social Contagion aspect.

Also, they shouldn't be pushing images of happy 'transitioned' youngsters, when that transition clearly included using unlicenced experimental drugs, with many known side effects, vaginal atrophy, early hysterectomy etc.

But , including transgender stuff at all, isn't that just poor teaching? You don't start teaching reading by teaching kids how to spell 'rough' or any other exceptions. You keep it simple. It should be the same approach for sex ed.

Presumably a child may ask why 1 of these people has breasts, and why the other doesn't. So at what age will they be finding out about how great a double masectomy is?

The dark haired person in the blue and black checked shirt (bottom left) is a patron of Mermaids, so you could segue into that if you wanted to.

(The name is Jake Graff should you want to look up more on Twitter, Instagram etc.)

You are bang on in terms of the material rejecting stereotypes and simply reinforcing them in these slides. It is contradictory snd therefore confusing, especially given the age of the pupils. It also goes against the DoE guidelines.

Rather than writing if you are finding it difficult to put it into writing, could you request a meeting to discuss it further?

It's a shame as they are so close...

They could show a woman with short hair in jeans and a checked shirt and not imply that she is too masculine-looking to be female, or because she is masculine looking she must be male or trans.

Even just showing images like this shows it's all about looks, clothes etc.

Bearing in mind the guidance about avoiding sex stereotyping, you might ask if the school could also show some pictures of gender non-conforming people who are not trans, to make sure the kids understand that sometimes men and women may dress differently than some children may be used to, but still refer to themselves as their biological sex - like Harry Styles in a skirt, or the entertainer Lea DeLaria in a suit.

I've been teaching a fair while and I would struggle to use that as a teaching tool without giving conflicting information about gender stereotypes. It'd be very hard to use that resource without coming down politically on one side or the other and teachers aren't allowed to express political positions.

To be honest though, I don't know how you'd explain trans without confusing young children about stereotypes. A transwoman on here explained gender identity and expression in her own words and it was still difficult for me to understand although she was much more eloquent than the usual suspects.

I'd just be teaching stereotypes are bad, you can present how you like and leave it at that.