At the beginning of September, and with very little fanfare, the Department for Education (DfE) announced the new national curriculum laying out how most subjects will be taught from 2014.
There are still several issues that need ironing out, not least how this new curriculum will be assessed. The DfE’s support for assessment largely through examination alone looks likely to further disadvantage already marginalised pupils, such as those with complex health conditions or SEN.
But it is perhaps in addressing sex education in the science curriculum (the only subject in which sex education is a statutory requirement) where the new curriculum appears to have got itself most worryingly into a muddle – which could leave young people inadequately equipped to make important decisions in their personal lives. Schools should be aware of these short-comings and act to create their own rounded programme of sex and relationships education (SRE).
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