The content of the 2020 Sex Education Curriculum, as interpreted by headteachers and those who design curriculum materials, took many parents by surprise. For example children in Hull, were asked to define ‘hardcore and transsexual porn’ as part of their lockdown school work.
Children as young as 11 were asked to consider different types of pornography and other inappropriate topics for homework at Archbishop Sentamu Academy, Hull.
One parent called the PSHE homework ‘completely inappropriate’, saying her 11-year-old daughter does not need to know ‘things that would destroy her mind’. She added: ‘Now it’s making me think, what are they learning at school that we don’t know about? We only know about this because they’re home learning.’
Leon Dagon, whose 13-year-old sister also attends the school, saw the homework and took to Facebook to warn parents. He said: ‘Luckily I found the work otherwise she would have typed this stuff into Google and you know what would have come up, and that makes me feel sick.’
The Academy apologised ‘unreservedly’ for any offence caused, claiming that students were not expected to search the terms online, but instead use the materials provided.
Show me your bedroom
In Scotland a parent took to Twitter to ask if it was acceptable that a teacher had asked her child, and the rest of the class, to take a photograph of their bedroom to send into school. Although noting that this may have just been an attempt by the teacher to encourage the children to help parents by keeping their room tidy, it could also be the first step to desensitising children to sending other less benign photographs. The head was reported as taking the concerns seriously and looking into the matter.
Jedburgh Grammar School removed a link on its website in early June to a film on sexuality and gender after complaints by Richard Lucas of the Scottish Family Party. Scottish Borders Council education chiefs acknowledged that the clips contained explicit content. They were there to help children do research on an LGBT project. The school had received a bronze award from LGBT Youth Scotland in 2018.
In 2016 the Supreme Court scuppered the plans of the Scottish Government to introduce a ‘Named Person’ for every child in Scotland who would be responsible for a child’s wellbeing. Heads or senior teachers would have taken that role, which still exists in a voluntary form across a wide area of Scotland.
2021
The DfE announced in early June that implementation of the new Sex Education curriculum can be delayed by schools, as lockdown may have prevented consultation with parents which schools are required to do. Socially-conservative commentators have noted that they hope many more parents will engage with schools, challenging what is often explicit teaching going well beyond the curriculum the government produced.
