Sex education England: RSE curriculum and what secondary school pupils learn - and how it could soon change

• Recent polling found that nearly two in five Britons feel poor sex education had a detrimental impact on their understanding of sex,
• But the rules around what schools should teach pupils about sex have changed a lot in the last few years.
• Currently all primary schools have to teach about health and relationships, while secondary schools add ‘sex ed’ to the mix.
• Parents do have some say over what their child learns about sex at school - and can even pull them out of some classes.

The thought of secondary school ‘sex ed’ classes might make teens want to cringe. But this important topic is mandatory for a reason - even though it could soon be in for a big shake-up.

High street pharmacy Superdrug recently launched a new sexual health campaign, aimed at helping people take ownership of their bodies and advocate for their own sexual health and wellbeing. The retailer has removed the VAT from its own-brand sexual health products, and will be creating the high street’s first ever sexual health advice service in London and Liverpool - parts of the UK with particularly high rates of STIs.

The company’s research found that 39% of people think that their poor sex education has negatively impacted their understanding of sex. On top of that, two thirds (66%) of 18-24 year olds believed that the proper terminology was ‘too medical, resorting to slang names instead, while 29% of respondents said they had never learned the word ‘vulva’ growing up.

Sex education in schools has changed a lot over the past few years, and is poised to potentially change once again in the near future. So what exactly is being taught in ‘sex ed’ classes today?

Here’s what the official government guidance for schools says:

Let’s talk about sex

In England, sex education comes under the Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE, or sometimes just RSE) curriculum, taught across both primary and secondary schools. It is mandatory for all primary schools to teach about relationships as of 2020, and for secondary schools to teach students relationships and sex education.

According to the most up-to-date statutory guidance for schools, children will begin learning about healthy relationships in primary school, with learning about sexuality usually introduced during the secondary school years.

This learning about all kinds of relationships will continue (including friendships, family relationships, and intimate ones). It should cover acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in relationships, so that pupils can identify when something isn’t right - and know what to do and where to go for help.

Other topics covered should include contraception, safe sex, and sexual health. “This should be delivered in a non-judgemental, factual way and allow scope for young people to ask questions in a safe environment,” the guidance says. This can cover issues like different STIs, pregnancy, fertility, and the menstrual cycle.

But it points out that good RSE “does not encourage early sexual experimentation”. It should instead teach children how to respect themselves and others, and even resist pressure to have sex if they are not ready - while also learning how not to apply pressure to others.

Overall, pupils should be taught the facts around sex, sexuality, sexual health and gender identity, “in an age-appropriate and inclusive way”. Sexual orientation and gender identity should be explored for older children “in a clear, sensitive and respectful manner”, keeping in mind that some young people might be in the process of discovering their sexual orientation or gender identity themselves.

Laws around sex should also be covered eventually. This could include discussions around consent, sexual assault and harassment, legal choices around pregnancy, grooming and exploitation, domestic violence, and even honour-based violence and female genital mutilation. Again, this should be taught in a sensitive way, being mindful that some young people at our schools might be in unsafe or unhealthy situations at home.

What about faith schools - or parents who don’t want their child to learn about sex yet?

Government guidance says schools should work closely with parents when planning their sex education curriculums, making sure they know what their child will be learning about, why, and when.

Even though schools do have to teach RSE as part of the curriculum, parents have the right to ask that their child is withdrawn from all or part of it for whatever reason. Before this is approved, however, parents might have to meet with the school’s headteacher to talk about why learning this information from their teachers might be better than learning from their peers second-hand (or even the internet). The headteacher might also talk with the child, to see what they think.

But schools should ultimately still respect parents’ wishes and withdraw the child from these classes. This only applies until “three terms before the child turns 16”, at what point it is up to them. This only applied for sex education too - not relationships or health education.

Schools with a special religious character, such as Catholic, Church of England, or Islamic schools, still have to follow the curriculum and teach these subjects. But they are allowed to do so in the context of their own faith. That means they can explore faith-based perspectives on issues that come up in sex education - as can any school.

But the statutory guidance says that in all schools, teaching should reflect the law when it comes to relations, including the Equality Act. Sexual identity, gender, and gender reassignment are all protected characteristics in the UK.

What could change in sex ed classes?

In March 2023, the then Conservative-led government announced a review of the RSE guidance for schools. This revised guidance was released and opened for public consultation in May this year, and closed in July.

The Department for Education confirmed that this guidance is not statutory yet. Submissions are still being analysed, but if passed without any changes, the guidance could see big changes to what is taught in RSE classes.

First of all - and quite controversially - schools would no longer teach their pupils about the concept of gender identity.

One of the other main changes in the updated guidance was setting out specific ages that schools should start teaching about different topics. This was in a bid to clarify things for educators, and make sure “children are not introduced too early to concepts that they may not have the maturity to grasp”.

These age limits included not teaching children about puberty until Year 4, including periods and how bodies can change during adolescence, and not teaching sex education until Year 5 or 6, “in line with what pupils learn about conception and birth as part of the national curriculum for science”.

What counts as harmful sexual behaviour and why shouldn’t be taught until secondary school (Year 7), under the draft guidance. This included topics like sexual harassment, revenge porn, “upskirting”, taking or sharing intimate photos (especially of young people - including themselves), public sexual harassment and unsolicited sexual attention touching, the impact of watching porn, and the concepts and laws around sexual exploitation and abuse.

But it said that “schools should not, however, teach about the details of violent abuse before [Year 9] as it is important that pupils are not introduced to distressing concepts when they are too young to understand them”. This included talking about more extreme sexual violence, like rape, in detail.

What was sex education like when you went to school, and how would you have improved it? Have your say and make your voice heard by leaving a comment below.