Education minister Kirsty Williams said the new policy, which will mean that parents can no longer remove their children from classes on sexuality, relationships, and religion, would be sensitively and carefully implemented.
“Our responsibility as a government is to ensure that young people, through public education, have access to learning that supports them to discuss and understand their rights and the rights of others,” she stated, adding that the policy had been agreed after an eight-week consultation.
A faith, Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) community involvement group is being formed to help develop RSE (relationships and sex education) guidance, a shared understanding of the new curriculum, and to address concerns raised by faith and community groups during the consultation. The consultation also proposed that religious education should be renamed religion, values and ethics and this will be implemented when the new curriculum comes into effect from 2022.
Ruth Davies, president of school leaders’ union NAHT Cymru, said: “Although we agree that this decision will need sensitive and careful implementation, we are delighted that Wales is leading the way in ensuring that all children have full access to the information and education they need.”