Recently I’ve had many surprised to hear that I welcome the RSE (relationships and sex education) review. Due to my background and training in sexology including sex and relationship education, many thought I’d automatically say no to the idea. But from what I have seen over the past 15 years working as an RSE consultant for brands, charities, and schools, is that the rollout of the RSE curriculum does need to be reviewed, as right now it’s being let down by the government. The government has failed RSE and those who teach it as well as students.
You could almost argue that we were due a review anyway. With how things have been delayed during the pandemic; the rollout of RSE throughout schools was greatly affected. It’s likely that many checks and provisions have been missed since 2019 when RSE became a statutory part of the UK school curriculum. Sex Education Forum quite rightly points out the lack of promised funding, where around 3 million pounds of funding is still yet to be disrupted in schools and RSE-focused charities. From my experience working with RSE-focused charities, and talking directly with schools, many are struggling to provide a service they feel is adequate to support youth due to not being able to fund most of the services. Hopefully, the review will highlight this and that any future RSE curriculum supported by the government will be appropriately funded, rather than leaving teachers panicking about classroom budgets so much.
When working with parents to help form new services and ask what information they’d find helpful for their children when it comes to RSE lessons and support, the majority informed me that they wanted more inclusive education as well as more RSE with a focus on supporting disability and SEN children. Whilst the call for review has had particular media interest due to its political involvement from people who may have an anti-LGBTQ+ agenda, there is an obvious need to keep LGBTQ+ inclusion and equity within RSE and it’s not just professionals like myself asking to maintain inclusion within RSE but also students and parents.
RSE isn’t exclusively a youth issue, and poor RSE received during youth is one of the main reasons for sexual issues later in life which can disrupt not only a person’s private intimate life but also it can have a knock-on effect on enjoyment in other parts of their life too. Even fellow sexologist Silva Neves points out in their book Sexology The Basics, “In my experience, much of the distress that people feel about their sex lives and intimate relationships come from excruciatingly poor sex education. Unawareness in these areas become a fertile ground for myths to grow, causing greater problems in people’s intimate lives.”
When doing the rRSE review the government must think of the future consequences and how poor decisions around access to inclusive RSE information could cause harm to future adults if restricted heavily. It has been shown that not only is there a strong tie-in with poor mental health leading to sexual and relationship dissatisfaction, but also LGBTQ+ individuals and trans sadly have a prevailingly higher chance of experiencing poor mental health. Some have hypothesised that section 28 contributed to this and that having to mask sexualities has played a big factor in this.
This isn’t a 21st century issue, it’s an issue that’s repeatedly occurred throughout time. When it comes to knowledge about sex, sexuality, and even love, it’s historically been called in to review and reshaped repeatedly. I understand why there’s worry around this due to how things have previously gone throughout history. However, it’s worth noting, as RSE is part of the curriculum it will be reviewed from time to time. There’ll be worry every time it’s reviewed. Sadly some platforms will cause moral panic around it. But hopefully, the government will take some time within their review to address where they have failed in support, particularly in the lack of funding.
Fund RSE! And ignore the moral panic and politics around it when making choices to the curriculum. It’s not helping youth and adults when basing these choices on media panic or politics, and won’t help the future.
However, funding and inclusion can change this.
Further reading:
If you haven’t read Silva Neves book yet, you totally should check it out. It’s a great resource on sexology for adults.
Ness Cooper News:
A reminder that I currently have therapy spaces available, head over to www.nesscooper.co.uk
Exciting things are happening! I’m touring the UK throughout May and June giving talks on the Psychology of kink and fetishism. You can find out more at seed talks.
I am running two new CPD training for professionals online: