RSE: facts or fiction?

Dear Sir,

The article ‘Parents, take back control’ in the May issue of en mixes a correct assertion of parents’ rights to ensure teaching conforms with their religious convictions with an incorrect interpretation of the Government’s new Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) curriculum requirement. To suggest that the proposals amount to ‘a form of child grooming’ and ‘opens the door to sexual predators’ is, I am afraid, scaremongering and must be challenged.

First, let’s get the facts straight: The new RSE curriculum is only compulsory from secondary school age, like the old Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) curriculum. What has changed is not just an acronym, but relationships are at the front and centre of the new curriculum. Rather than just a focus on reproduction, sexuality and sexual health, the focus is on relationships. Rather than a drive towards compulsory sex education, what has come onto the statute book is compulsory Relationships Education. Its aim in the words of the Education Secretary is to ‘put in place the key building blocks of healthy, respectful relationships, focusing on family and friendships, in all contexts, including online’.