By Gavin Mackintosh-
Ten percent of school leaders in the Uk plan to ignore government demands to consult parents on developing new relationships and sex education (RSE) lessons.
Seventy-five percent of them actively plan to form working groups with parents, but about twenty percent are indecisive about what way to go, according to a new poll by The Key.
As from September next year, all schools must teach relationships and health education, and all secondaries must teach sex education. The active group of teachers will meet stern opposition along the way. Several protests in Birmingham and Manchester about educational contents in school have already caused severe disruptions earlier this year, particularly in relation to LGBT relationships.
Government guidance says schools must “consult parents” in developing their RSE policy and ensure it “meets the needs of pupils and parents and reflects the community they serve”.
DECISIVE
Sarah Hannafin, a senior policy adviser at the National Association of Head Teachers, indicated the need for schools to be decisive in relation to the highly contested issue. She said the requirement to consult “does not exist for any other areas of the curriculum”. But she said parental engagement “can be a positive step”, especially when there was “widespread misinformation or misunderstanding”.
“Ultimately it is for schools to decide what is taught and how.”
The Key survey of 674 school leaders and governors found 24 per cent would form a working party with interested parents on the new curriculum.
Twenty-three per cent were planning information sessions, 17 per cent said they would survey parents and 12 per cent had an “open door policy” for parents.
Lucy Emmerson, the director of the Sex Education Forum, said it was “encouraging” so many schools were planning to involve parents in RSE.
However, 17 per cent said they still do not know how they would do that, and 9 per cent had no plans to consult at all.
Alastair Lichten, the head of education at the National Secular Society, warned schools should not start “lending credence to unreasonable expectations that the course content will be subject to parental whim or veto”.
“A school’s overriding duty is to deliver RSE in a way that is comprehensive, non-discriminatory and rights-based. Any consultation must not undermine that.” A high court ruling is due to rule tomorrow whether to keep an exclusion zone outside Anderton Park school, in Birmingham.
An application has already been lodged by Birmingham City council to ensure permanent zones following disruptive protests against the school’s planned LGBT lessons. It may develop to a battle, but time will tell.
Image: Churchmilitant.com