Why sex and relationships education needs to become compulsory in all schools

Parliament has just voted against legislation that would make sex and relationships education (SRE) compulsory in all schools in the UK. This is despite three-quarters of young people believing compulsory SRE would make them feel safer, according to research conducted by charity Barnardo's, and nearly one third of teenage girls having experienced sexual violence in their relationships, according to research by the NSPCC.

A 2016 parliamentary report also found that almost a third of 16 to 18 year-old girls had experienced unwanted touching at school, while 70 percent of 11-15 year olds in England alone said they believed sex education should be compulsory, and a whopping 94 percent said they wanted to learn about the risks and consequences of sharing pictures with people online or on social media.

Only state schools currently have compulsory sex education lessons in Britain, but these lessons do not cover social or emotional aspects of sex, merely the cold, biological facts. As important as it is to know how babies are made, in this day and age that is not nearly enough. For the first time ever, teenagers are growing up in a digitalised world. According to research by Pew Research Centre, 73 percent of 13 to 18 year olds have access to a smartphone and 91 percent of teenagers use the internet on their mobile device. This means that today’s young people are exposed constantly to an online dimension of sex and relationships that no other generation has been before.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2017/01/23/sex-relationships-education-needs-become-compulsory-schools/


".....almost a third of 16 to 18 year-old girls had experienced unwanted touching at school",

Wow. What's that all about? Surely by this age, the boys (or girls) doing the touching, know whether it's unwanted or not?

but...........

hang on a min......they are still "children" so it MUST all be quite innocent

mustnt it??

or is the reality that they are NOT children at 16...or come to that 14......

or does that only apply when they comit crimes etc???

I think it should be. in NSW it is under 'Health and Physical Education' which is a mandatory subject for the first 4 years of high school (about 12 to 16 years old). A lot of Primary schools have some sort of course similar but it is not mandatory.

Additionally it should be more 'honestly' worked into other subjects like a lot of reproductive education could be put into Biology/science take the mystery/shame/embarrassment out of it and treat it like science.

Also a more 'Honest' history of women's rights and the social evolutions of equality.

The health and sexual education part of the NSW school syllabus was introduced within the P/E subject in the early 1970s, just after I started high school...

The subject has been gradually expanded and enlarged over the years...

More than 40 years later, and still the British guvm'nt can't get their heads around the issue, and refuse to recognise the need to make it a compulsory part of school education  ?      

Having a go at us pure British again without good reason Wolfie.

Another jealous Aussie.

The only reason YOU are making this thread is to protect sexual advances towards your boomers.

More than ever I think sex education should be on the schools curriculum.
Covering a lot more than the mechanics, the pressures and the emotions that youngsters feel, especially in the digital age where research shows even primary school kids are sexting each other.

Ideally kids should be taught gradually at home from a very early age, but that's not always the case.