Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to help tackle gender stereotypes in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.

All schools are required to teach the subjects of relationships education for primary aged pupils, and relationships and sex education for secondary aged pupils. The statutory guidance for relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) emphasises that schools should be aware of issues such as sexism, misogyny, homophobia and gender stereotypes. Schools should take positive action to build a culture where these are not tolerated, and any occurrences are identified and tackled swiftly. The statutory RSHE guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.

Under the topic of respectful relationships, the guidance sets out that pupils should be taught the characteristics of positive friendships, and how stereotypes, including stereotypes based on gender, can damage relationships or encourage prejudice.

​​To help schools to teach the RSHE curriculum the Department has published a range of online teacher training modules, including Respectful Relationships and Being Safe. The modules can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.