“I was sexually abused and no-one told me what was done to me was wrong. He was my granddad. I thought it was my fault. If I had known it was wrong and that I could say something, it might have stopped earlier than it did.”
Female, 16-years-old
Half of young people have not learnt at school how to recognise the signs of grooming or how to get help if they are being sexually abused, new research has warned.
Furthermore, a third of young people have learnt nothing about sexual consent and many do not know what an abusive relationship looks like.
The huge inconsistency in sex and relationships education (SRE) in schools has been exposed by a study involving more than 2,300 young people aged 11 to 25.
The Sex Education Forum (SEF), which carried out the research, is using the findings and comments from participants in the study – such as the one above – to renew its calls for SRE to become a mandatory part of the national curriculum as part of statutory PSHE.
The findings reveal serious gaps in knowledge in other areas as well, including female genital mutilation (FGM).
The majority of respondents in the survey (69 per cent) were aged 13 to 18, with two-thirds being female and around one-third male (4.5 per cent identified as trans, non-binary or other). More than 90 per cent of the respondents attended a state school, while seven per cent attended an independent school. The study’s concerns include that:
- Half (50 per cent) of the young people did not learn/have not learnt how to get help if they were abused.
- More than half (53 per cent) did not learn/have not learnt how to recognise the signs of when someone is being groomed for sexual exploitation.
- A significant number had not been taught how to tell when a relationship is healthy (46 per cent) or abusive (44 per cent).
- A third (34 per cent) said they learnt nothing about sexual consent and 50 per cent had not discussed real-life scenarios about sexual consent.
- Only a quarter (24 per cent) said they had learnt about FGM, but the figure increased to 40 per cent among 11 to 13 year-olds, suggesting things are starting to change.
There are also concerns about a lack of basic SRE at primary schools, which could be leaving young people unable to recognise abuse. The survey found that:
- Half of the young people had not learned at primary school how to get help if they experienced unwanted touching or sexual abuse.
- Sixteen per cent had not learnt the correct names for genitalia and 17 per cent had not been taught that the genitals are private to you (both key to recognising and reporting abuse).
The young people were more likely to have learnt about some of these issues at home with parents and carers, although the study warns that this was only the case for 45 per cent of those surveyed.
The variations in quality of SRE is laid bare by the study, with one 13-year-old boy saying simply that he had never had SRE. Another 15-year-old respondent said: “Sex was still regarded as a taboo subject and the teachers seemed uncomfortable talking about it. The whole concept was approached purely biologically with no regards to relationships at all and was pushed into a few lessons at the end of term alongside drugs education.”
Overall, only 35 per cent of the respondents said the SRE they received was either good or very good. Twenty-one per cent thought it was either bad or very bad.
Lucy Emmerson, coordinator of the Sex Education Forum, said it was unacceptable that young people only have a 50-50 chance of being taught about sexual exploitation and grooming.
She said: “The odds of a young person learning vital information about equal, safe and enjoyable relationships are no different than the toss of a coin. The ultimate consequence of this is that many children don’t know how to recognise abusive behaviour or how to seek help.”
The findings add to the pressure on Department for Education ministers to respond to long-standing calls to make PSHE a statutory subject on the national curriculum, including mandatory SRE.
After its inquiry into PSHE last year, a key recommendation within the Education Select Committee’s report was for PSHE and SRE to become statutory curriculum subjects. The government promised a response to the recommendation by the end of 2015, but nothing has been forthcoming.
The SEF is also among those calling for the change. Ms Emmerson added: “With evidence about the benefits for children and young people of teaching SRE stacked up high and a growing list of politicians calling for the subject to be mandatory, there is no excuse for government to continue leaving SRE to chance.”
Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, which is a member of the SEF, said: “We fully supports the call for mandatory and inclusive SRE. We know that education staff want high-quality training so that they can deliver the SRE that will enable young people to keep themselves safe.”
She added: “We call upon the government to take this important step, which parents, education staff and young people all want, so that we can all help to tackle child abuse, sexual health issues and young people’s poor mental health.”
The SEF’s full research report, entitled, Heads or Tails: What young people tell us about sex and relationships education, can be downloaded at www.sexeducationforum.org.uk