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Relationships and sex education: Young people turning to social media for information

The quality of relationships and sex education is improving but inconsistent delivery of key topics is driving many young people onto social media in their search for information.
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The annual Young People’s RSE Poll finds that the quality of provision in schools has improved but many young people are still not learning about key issues.

Published by the Sex Education Forum, the report is based on survey responses from more than 1,000 students in England aged 16 and 17 and asks them about their experience of RSE during their schooling.

The results show that 50% of the respondents said that their RSE at school was “good” or “very good” – the highest proportion yet in this research.

Broken down by issue, a majority of the respondents reported good coverage of topics including puberty (79%), sexual consent (71%), sexual harassment (64%), STIs (62%), and sexual orientation (57%).

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