by Jason Elsom, The Times
New government guidelines should give families welcome transparency about the content of sex education lessons
There are few things that upset parents more than finding out that their child has been taught or shown things in school sex education classes that they knew nothing about. No school should ever hide such content from parents and new government guidelines for England, announced yesterday, make it clear that there is no longer any excuse for doing this.
Transparency helps to reassure sceptical parents. Those who are shown worksheets and lesson plans in advance are four times more likely to say they are comfortable with what is being taught than parents who are kept in the dark. Most schools get this right and understand the importance of talking to parents but from next year there will be no wriggle room.