I strongly believe that inclusive Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) should be compulsory for all schools. In fact, helping young people to understand how to develop relationships should be a central part of education.
This should apply to all elements of relationships, including LGBT issues. I recently asked the following question to a panel at the PinkNews Debate at the Wellcome Collection in London. “Will the panel agree with me that the best way to tackle this is through early lessons in schools on Sex and Relationship Education?”
It was positive to hear Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper respond: “The idea that we are not teaching all of our children respect in relationships, the idea that we are not making it compulsory in every school, I just think is so out of date, and I just think it is horrifying and irresponsible to be honest.
“We ought to be teaching about respect in relationships. We should be teaching about zero tolerance of violence in relationships. We should be teaching about respect in terms of same-sex relationships.”
As Ms Cooper added, this should be taught age appropriately, but no child is too young to begin learning about respect for others and understanding of relationships. From this foundation, an understanding about sex and other issues can then develop. An important aspect of this is ensuring that teachers are properly qualified to deliver sex and relationship education.
When I was at school we received almost no guidance on how to build relationships – we were left to work it out by ourselves. While learning about these issues oneself is a big part of growing up, there is no reason why schools shouldn’t provide a helping hand.
By making SRE compulsory, we would be giving our children a far better start in life. Do you agree?
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