Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the provision of sex education for secondary school children who have learning disabilities.

In September 2020, relationships education became compulsory for all primary school pupils, relationships and sex education compulsory for all secondary school pupils, and health education compulsory for pupils in all state-funded schools. However, schools have flexibility up to the summer term 2021 before they start teaching the new subjects to accommodate school closures due to the COVID-19 outbreak. We have not conducted a formal review of relationships, sex, and health education (RSHE) as it is too early to be able make an accurate assessment of the impact on pupils, including those with learning disabilities.

Those who teach pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are used to adapting materials to meet the varied needs of their pupils and the RSHE statutory guidance is clear that the curriculum must be accessible to all pupils. We recognise that some teachers may need additional support when covering sensitive topics in the RSHE curriculum and last summer the Department organised a webinar for teachers of pupils with SEND, teaching assistants and SEND coordinators. The webinar was attended by over 2400 people and covered an overview of the RSHE curriculum, SEND curriculum planning, relationships and sex education and mental wellbeing. It is available to view on the PSHE Association’s SEND Hub: https://www.pshe-association.org.uk/content/send-hub.

The Department is currently working with teachers, SEND subject experts and SEND stakeholders to support all schools to build their expertise and increase their confidence to deliver the curriculum to those with more complex needs. This work includes the development of a SEND-specific RSHE module that will sit alongside the other RSHE teacher training modules available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health and working with SEND stakeholders to run regional workshops to allow teachers and other practitioners to share best practice and provide peer support.