{"id":41750,"date":"2017-12-13T11:39:05","date_gmt":"2017-12-13T19:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=41750"},"modified":"2017-12-13T11:39:05","modified_gmt":"2017-12-13T19:39:05","slug":"sex-relationship-education-rights-equity-not-just-biology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/sex-relationship-education-rights-equity-not-just-biology\/","title":{"rendered":"Sex and relationship education should be about rights and equity not just biology"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-41751\" src=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/sexedu.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"680\" height=\"362\" srcset=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/sexedu.jpg 680w, https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/sexedu-250x133.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>For decades, researchers, young people, and activists have campaigned for better sex and relationships education. Yet still today children and young people rarely have the high quality lessons they need in schools around the world.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bmjopen.bmj.com\/content\/7\/5\/e014791\">International research<\/a>\u00a0has found that for it to be effective, sex and relationships education needs to start early, as well as be adaptable and needs-led. It must be delivered by well-trained and confident teachers, in partnership with external providers. It also needs to be of sufficient duration \u2013 not one-off sessions \u2013 as well as relevant, engaging and participatory. And, most importantly, it must be held in a safe, respectful and confidential learning environment, and embedded in a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sexeducationforum.org.uk\/resources\/practice\/sex-relationships-education\/shropshire-respect-yourself-improving-sre.aspx\">whole school approach<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But if we know what is needed, why are these lessons not in UK schools already? At present, the future of what the sex and relationship education curriculum will look like is still being discussed by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/schools-to-teach-21st-century-relationships-and-sex-education\">politicians in England<\/a>. Wales, however, is starting to make some headway.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Major reforms in Wales<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Since education was devolved to the Welsh government in the 1990s, Wales has sought to embed\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/learning.gov.wales\/resources\/browse-all\/sex-and-relationships-education-in-schools\/?lang=en\">policy and guidance<\/a>\u00a0on its sex and relationships education into a social justice model of rights, equity and well-being.<\/p>\n<p>In March 2017, an expert panel \u2013 which I was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cardiff.ac.uk\/news\/view\/592589-new-expert-healthy-relationships-group-to-advise-on-curriculum\">invited to chair<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 was established by the Welsh Assembly\u2019s cabinet secretary for education, Kirsty Williams. We were tasked with reporting on how teachers could be supported to deliver high quality sex and relationships education more effectively in schools in Wales. As well as help inform the development of the future curriculum in this area.<\/p>\n<p>Drawing on the available national and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.palgrave.com\/gb\/book\/9781137400321\">international research<\/a>, we found significant gaps between the lived experiences of children and young people, and the sex and relationships education they receive in school. We also found that the quality and quantity of these lessons vary widely from school to school.<\/p>\n<p>Our panel has now made\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cardiff.ac.uk\/research\/explore\/find-a-project\/view\/1026193-informing-the-future-of-the-sex-and-relationships-curriculum-in-wales\">a series of recommendations<\/a>\u00a0to the Welsh government which collectively constitute a major overhaul of sex and relationship education in Wales. This is in line with significant curriculum and teacher training reforms, and is supported by the fact that health and well-being will be a core part of the 2021\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/gov.wales\/docs\/dcells\/publications\/150225-successful-futures-en.pdf\">Welsh curriculum<\/a>, with equal status to other areas of the curriculum.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Living curriculum< <\/strong>\/h4><\/p>\n<p>In our\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cardiff.ac.uk\/research\/explore\/find-a-project\/view\/1026193-informing-the-future-of-the-sex-and-relationships-curriculum-in-wales\">report<\/a>, we have outlined a vision for a new holistic, inclusive, rights and equity-based sexuality and relationships education curriculum. We concluded that what children and young people need now is a \u201cliving curriculum\u201d, relevant to their lives and real world issues.<\/p>\n<p>The idea is that this living curriculum would respond to children and young people\u2019s lives, and enable them to see themselves and each other in what they are learning. It will also evolve to meet changing biological, social, cultural and technological issues and knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>Importantly, we have recommended that sexuality and relationships education should not be relegated to an individual lesson or subject. It should be embedded across the whole curriculum. This means that any subject \u2013 science, humanities, or any other \u2013 should be able to address key areas of learning about gender, sexuality and relationships. Issues like rights, identity, body image, safety, care, consent, among others will be taught across the school timetable.<\/p>\n<p>To ensure that learning is reinforced beyond the classroom, we have recommended that sexuality and relationships education provision is part of a whole school approach. We also suggest that content and assessment is co-produced with children and young people themselves.<\/p>\n<p>We have also suggested that the name is changed to \u201csexuality and relationships education\u201d. This is important for children and young people who say that current provision is\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sexeducationforum.org.uk\/media\/34250\/Head-or-tails-SRE-2016.pdf\">narrowly focused on the biological<\/a>\u00a0at the expense of learning about the social, cultural and political aspects of sexuality.<\/p>\n<p>Making sexuality and relationships education a statutory part of the curriculum is a start, but to achieve all this we need to ensure that those who are delivering it are well-trained, supported and confident. There should be a sexuality and relationships specialist lead educator in every school and local authority. This is in addition to protected time in the curriculum for the topic, so that what is planned for can be delivered on, and not squeezed out by other subjects.<\/p>\n<p>These are significant reforms which will demand investment and planning. But the outcome will be an inclusive, relevant and empowering curriculum that can learn from, respond to and support all children and young people\u2019s needs. Our vision is a sexuality and relationship education curriculum for life long learning and experience.<br \/>\n<em><br \/>\n<strong>Author Bio:<\/strong> Emma Renold is Professor of Childhood Studies at Cardiff University<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For decades, researchers, young people, and activists have campaigned for better sex and relationships education. Yet still today children and young people rarely have the high quality lessons they need in schools around the world. International research\u00a0has found that for it to be effective, sex and relationships education needs to start early, as well as [&hellip;]\n&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/sex-relationship-education-rights-equity-not-just-biology\/\" class=\"more\">learn more&rarr;<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":41751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15645],"tags":[165310],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-41750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-sex-and-relationship-education"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sex and relationship education should be about rights and equity not just biology - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/sex-relationship-education-rights-equity-not-just-biology\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sex and relationship education should be about rights and equity not just biology - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For decades, researchers, young people, and activists have campaigned for better sex and relationships education. Yet still today children and young people rarely have the high quality lessons they need in schools around the world. International research\u00a0has found that for it to be effective, sex and relationships education needs to start early, as well as [&hellip;]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/sex-relationship-education-rights-equity-not-just-biology\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-13T19:39:05+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/sexedu.jpg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"362\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/sex-relationship-education-rights-equity-not-just-biology\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/sex-relationship-education-rights-equity-not-just-biology\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"Sex and relationship education should be about rights and equity not just biology\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-13T19:39:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/sex-relationship-education-rights-equity-not-just-biology\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":779,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/sex-relationship-education-rights-equity-not-just-biology\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/sexedu.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Sex and relationship education\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/sex-relationship-education-rights-equity-not-just-biology\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/sex-relationship-education-rights-equity-not-just-biology\\\/\",\"name\":\"Sex and relationship education should be about rights and equity not just biology - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/sex-relationship-education-rights-equity-not-just-biology\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/sex-relationship-education-rights-equity-not-just-biology\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/sexedu.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-13T19:39:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/sex-relationship-education-rights-equity-not-just-biology\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/sex-relationship-education-rights-equity-not-just-biology\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/sex-relationship-education-rights-equity-not-just-biology\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/sexedu.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/sexedu.jpg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":362},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/sex-relationship-education-rights-equity-not-just-biology\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sex and relationship education should be about rights and equity not just biology\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer &amp; 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