Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education is a school subject that supports pupils to be healthy, safe and prepared for modern life. The PSHE education curriculum covers a range of pressing issues facing children and young people today, including those relating to relationships, mental and physical health, staying safe and aware online and offline, financial literacy and careers.
What does the new RSE guidance mean for you?
Background
The Children and Social Work Act 2017 placed a duty on the Secretary of State for Education – Damian Hinds MP, at the time of writing – to make the new subjects of Relationships Education in Primary schools and Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) at secondary level compulsory through regulations.
The Act also provides a power for the Secretary of State to make PSHE, or elements of the subject, mandatory in all schools as early as 2019. In a recent speech to committee members though, it was announced that that may shift to 2020, to allow teachers time to become accustomed to the guidelines.
The move represents a major step towards addressing concerns about the consistency of the quality of PSHE teaching, and in some schools, the reduced curriculum time for PSHE. From as early as 2019, schools will need to have a written policy for Relationships Education and RSE. This will be written in consultation with parents. Schools should ensure that the policy meets the needs of their pupils and parents and reflects the community they serve.
The guidance
The government has released new guidance for schools entitled ‘Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education’. The guidance is aimed at governing bodies of maintained schools and non-maintained special schools; proprietors, trustees and directors of independent schools, academies and free schools; head teachers, principals and senior leadership teams; teachers, other school staff and school nurses; and Diocese and faith representatives.
This guidance replaces the Sex and Relationship Education guidance (2000). This puts an emphasis on relationships and sex education but shouldn’t de-prioritise other aspects of PSHE education. Learning about economic well-being and preparing for work are vital and inextricably linked to health and relationships, for instance, managing stress of preparing for exams is closely linked to mental well-being. With concerns about young people’s mental health on the rise, and physical health – including obesity and healthy lifestyles – an ongoing issue, it is hoped that these commitments will have a major impact on the health, well-being and safety of this, and future, generations.
As well as this, parents, teachers and government officials are becoming increasingly concerned about the impact of social media and screen-use on young people’s health. As the extent of the impact is unknown, teachers need to work with pupils in reflecting and evaluating their mobile phone and social media usage. Pupils are more likely to engage if the information they are given is evidence-based, and if they are exposed to real situations, for example, film clips and real-life accounts. Young people need to be given the facts, to be able to look at their own situation, and then be allowed to make their own decisions.
What does the guidance mean for publishers?
Publishers now have their work cut out in producing teaching materials on topics such as how much time per day is safe for a young person to be on social media. New materials will need to be current, relevant, and evidence-based. They will need to enable teachers to accurately advise on aspects of law. Resources will need to contain information on what is happening around the world as pupils of today are becoming more globally aware. Teachers will need further support in answering the tricky questions, which can be achieved by both printed resources and face to face CPD events. At present, there is no clear source for teachers to use when they need information on how to teach pupils about digital literacy. Whilst any material needs to be differentiated and adapted to be appropriate for any given class, resources need to be developed with the busy teacher in mind.
If there are suitable resources available, with built-in pupil self-assessment, then teachers will welcome the new guidance with open arms.
This piece was originally published for the Hodder Education Citizenship and PSHE blog, at:
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