What is effective RSE education?

Research by NIHR, the School for Public Health research in Bristol has reported that: 

“RSE should always be sex-positive and taught in a way which is open, frank and informative. RSE programmes should always be developed with young people and should not focus on abstinence. Lessons should discuss emotions, relationships, gender and sexual identity.  Young people should be taught about issues such as consent, sexting, cyberbullying, online safety, sexual exploitation and sexual coercion. Lessons should also provide impartial information on contraception, safer sex, pregnancy and abortion.”

Since 2020 in England, there has been a statutory requirement to teach most of PSHE education. This statutory content – often referred to as RSHE – covers Relationships Education at key stages 1 and 2, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) at key stages 3 and 4, and Health Education from key stage 1 to 4.

Here is a link to the national guidance and a formal curriculum for Primary and Secondary schools.

Ofsted are placing more emphasis on PSHE education, including relationship, sex and health education as highlighted in this case study: Ofsted inspection case study: a comprehensive secondary in the North West (pshe-association.org.uk). While PSHE as a whole is not statutory, it is explicitly part of Ofsted’s inspection framework under the category of personal development.

Effective RSE is created by you and your school, but the Sex Education forum identifies three key steps.

  1. Consult with parents and pupils and develop a policy (see more resource below).
  2. What to teach and how to teach it – getting your model of delivery right, consider if there is sufficient time, quality of resources, evidence based and credible sources (be critical, there are some sensational and alarming resources out there), if /when to and when not to use any external speakers (and your budget for these) and how it can be reinforced in other curriculum areas, such as science, religious studies.
    • Programmes addressing gender and power in relationships were five times more likely to be effective in reducing STI and pregnancy rates than those that did not address these topics. Specifically, 80% of such curricula versus 12% of curricula that did not address these topics were associated with lower STI and pregnancy rates[1]
    • Effective RSE can support prevention of child sexual abuse, including supporting children to identify it and seek help[2]
    • Effective RSE and ‘sexuality education’ is most effective when begun early and before sexual activity begins [3]

 

[1] The Case for Addressing Gender and Power in Sexuality And HIV Education: A Comprehensive Review of Evaluation Studies on JSTOR

[2] School-Based Education Programs for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse: A Cochrane Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis - Kerryann Walsh, Karen Zwi, Susan Woolfenden, Aron Shlonsky, 2018 (sagepub.com)

[3] Three Decades of Research: The Case for Comprehensive Sex Education - ScienceDirect

Local Sexual Health Services are not able to be locally funded to deliver education sessions to young people in schools, but here are some other solutions and ideas.

  1. Scaffold an inclusive year-round curriculum, age appropriate for each year group – drop down days or one off PSHE lessons have a limited impact as a stand-alone[1].
  2. Find excellent programmes, some companies have done this work for you and quality assured ones can be found on the PSHE Association website – these are quality assured through their process, meaning you can be confident in giving out accurate information.
  1. Engage parents and governors – most parents and governors want to be assured of high quality, age-appropriate relationship, and sex education. The PSHE association also offer these handy guidance briefings with lots of ideas.

 

  1. Engage students in what they need from relationship and sex education – they can tell you a lot about the issues they are facing and by engaging and communicating well with students, this can help to tailor the curriculum, support prevention and improve outcomes. Ideas could be involving student councils, student surveys, or the ‘My health, my school’ survey, run by the local 0-19 service details here: My health my school – 0 to 19 Torbay

*top tip* There are some providers who might want to offer services for low cost or free, but might not be accurate, credible or safe. Here is some helpful free guidance from SEF on external agencies and RSE> External agencies and RSE | sexeducationforum.org.uk

 

[1] ASCL - Three steps to RSHE Success: plan your relationships, sex and health education curriculum

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