Parents aren’t being told the awful truth about sex education in schools

Oct 18, 2023 by Jill

by Miriam Cates, Telegraph:

The Prime Minister should make good on his promise to let parents know what their children are being taught.

When we wave our children off to school in the morning, most parents won’t give a second thought to what they will be learning about that day. We assume that they are being taught a knowledge-based syllabus in maths, English and the rest.

Most parents are relaxed about the curriculum because we trust schools: we trust that lesson content is appropriate and that, should we wish to know precisely what’s being taught, we can look at the textbooks and worksheets our children bring home or ask their class teacher.

But when it comes to Relationships and Sex Education (RSE), this trust is in short supply. Too many examples of shocking RSE materials have come to light, containing graphic and sexualised content that is deeply inappropriate for children.

Campaigners, journalists and MPs have exposed outrageous resources that promote gender identity theory, encourage children to discuss “sexual pleasure” and describe extreme sex acts. The prevalence of these dreadful materials appears to have increased since 2019, when the Department for Education introduced compulsory RSE in schools. A lack of clear guidance opened the door to a Wild West of third-party sex education “providers” – many espousing extreme political views – to sell their content into the classroom.

The fact that these “resources” are being shown to children should be a source of deep unease. But what compounds the scandal is that, in many cases, parents are refused the right to view what their own children will be shown. Despite the Education Secretary writing to all schools reminding them of their duty of transparency, London mother Clare Page recently lost a battle to view her daughter’s sex education resources when a tribunal ruled that the “commercial interests” of the sex education firm outweighed the public interest in seeing the material.

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