Woman's hour on RSE teaching

[WarriorN]

Monday's programme is on RSE in schools - they want to hear listeners thoughts about this I'm schools.

What should be covered, experiences.

[2fallsfromSSA]

I think these debates are just highlighting the severity of the problem - not just the inappropriate resources but the unwillingness of people to actually engage with the issues and put safeguarding first.

[Zeugma]

Yeah, why do we bother with anything really? At all? I mean, people are so uptight.

J. F. C.

[Birdsweepsin]

Well that's Woman's Hour going backwards again. And I thought progress was being made....

[WarriorN]

What they mean is that these children are being exposed anyway and want to know more.

However there are ways of engaging, being current and relevant that doesn't mean "being led by children" at all.
A good well rounded safe curriculum means communicating respect, boundaries and safety without having to teach "choking safely" ffs.

It also does start in the early years without being explicit. Simply teaching basic consent and respect through normal play. "Does he look like he wants to play this game?" "Is slam down wrestling a safe game to play on the yard?" "Did you ask if you could play with his toy? Did you respect his answer?"

An awful lot of nursery, reception and year one children do not understand basic appropriate social interaction, which is why teaching healthy relationships, including saying no, is so important. But what that looks like appears to be very different for many educators.

[QuietlyLurkingintheCorner]

Yes. Absolutely there are ways of teaching this stuff very early on without having to go anywhere near sex ed. Consensual play, PANTS, correct anatomical language for body parts etc. Surely if it's done well in EYFS you won't generally need to talk to year 6 children about sexting. When the parent on with Claire was talking about that incident I thought, but that's a consent issue! You can cover it with a lesson on consent & boundaries.

Anyway I was a bit cross because I was expecting my email to be read out & I was hoping it would be put to the head teacher and the woman from Sex Education Forum. I guess Nuala had other ideas!

[2fallsfromSSA]

Here is our response to Sophie's thread which talks about the "perceived innocence of children". https://twitter.com/SafeSchools_UK/status/1640345385196478471?s=20

[WarriorN]

It is a very concerning phrase and I don't understand why they can't see that.

Of course sex Ed is important and of course being relevant and accessible is vital and no one is suggesting that shame should be 'brought back.'

No one is suggesting that we shame teens. Quite the opposite. But we do say that there is a level of healthy basic understanding here that can be embedded in schools which emphasises respect, consent and confidence to communicate clearly about RSE.

Some of the more random and controversial stuff is actually very distracting from key basic messages that have to be repeated to all children in order to be effective and successful.

Children will remember some of those more shocking or weird and colourful elements (100 gendered flags, hetero is plain grey...) but forget the more mundane but most important messages.