PRESS RELEASE

• Committee recommendations echo Caroline’s Bill for statutory PSHE with SRE

• Caroline: This shouldn’t be an optional ‘bolt on’ or a postcode lottery - statutory status is key

• ‘Time to grasp cross-party opportunity to make a crucial difference to our children’s education’

The Commons Education Committee has today released its new report - Life Lessons: PSHE and SRE in Schools - on Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE) with Sex and Relationships Education (SRE).

The cross-bench committee’s report backs the need for statutory status of PSHE with SRE as a core part of it. 

It echoes the call of Caroline’s private member’s bill - due its second reading this month, on February 27 - to make PSHE education statutory in all state-funded schools. Her Bill also includes making SRE a core part of PSHE and a compulsory part of the curriculum.

Her #PSHEBill has been backed by organisations from End Violence Against Women, the NUT and NAHT to Stonewall, the Royal College of Nurses and the PSHE Association.

Caroline said she was “delighted” the Education Committee had made statutory PSHE a recommendation.  Statutory status was “key” she said – because as long as PSHE remained a non-statutory subject with a low priority in the Ofsted framework, there’d be virtually no coverage of it in teacher training.

Caroline said: “PSHE is about relationships, respect and responsibilities. It’s about fit-for-purpose, age-appropriate whole person education and it’s more important than ever. Parents, pupils and teachers back it – so it’s fantastic that the Education Committee has also recognised the need. 

“The importance of ensuring every child has access to education around sex, health and relationships – as well as teaching on everything from life-saving CPR to how to be responsible with money – can barely be overstated. This shouldn’t be an optional ‘bolt on’ or a postcode lottery. Where good PSHE teaching happens, the benefits shine through – and I see that in schools like Patcham High in my Brighton constituency.”

She added: “We truly have a cross-party opportunity here to make a crucial difference to the education of our children. It’s time to grasp it.”

ENDS

Notes 

• You can read Caroline’s Bill here: http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2014-15/personalsocialhealthandeconomiceducationstatutoryrequirement.html
• YouGov and the PSHE Association have found that 90% of parents believe schools should teach children about mental health and emotional well-being. The NAHT has found that 88% of parents of school-aged pupils want age-appropriate SRE to be taught in schools.
• Caroline issued a briefing paper on the subject last year