Representatives at the National Education Association’s annual conference heard that secondary schools could only devote a few hours a year to teaching the Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) curriculum in England, giving them little time to discuss issues. such as pornography and sexual abuse. emerged. John Rediford, a teacher from North Somerset, told the conference that he had recently experienced “a really horrible set of incidents” at his school involving 11th graders who could have avoided more RSE teaching in previous years. “It went on for a long time before it was revealed to the staff that some of the girls took clear pictures of themselves and sent them to their friends, who then shared them. “It later emerged that the girls were being pressured by their friends to do so,” Rediford said. “It simply came to our notice then. The fact that such images were readily available to 15- and 16-year-olds and the fact that there was no space at school to discuss them in a way that was appropriate for teenagers έκανε made it much more difficult for us to face it “. Rediford said it was important for the union to take a stand, “because the impact it had on the 11th decade was absolutely enormous and we could have dealt with it much better at the time.” Representatives in Bournemouth unanimously approved a proposal calling for “adequately resourced, high-quality” relationships and sex education in schools and colleges, as well as consistent reporting and reporting of sexual harassment, abuse and violence online and offline. “We have to admit that young people will feel weird about sex and may look at pornography if they do not have an excellent RSE in schools,” said Amy Fletcher, a Tower Hamlets teacher who promoted the movement. Sarah Byrne, a spokeswoman for Hackney, said the NSPCC had found that one in 20 elementary school-aged students had shared nude pictures with each other. Byrne said staff were expected to teach the current curriculum “with zero training, including, of course, the need to tackle pornography.” At my school it would be one hour a fortnight… How are we supposed to promote healthy relationships and protect our young people in this context, without time and without education? “ Mary Bousted, co-secretary general of the NEU, said young children could be accidentally exposed to porn “because of algorithms” used by social media, with many lacking the maturity to understand or deal with it. “Relationships and sex education need to have enough time in the school curriculum to empower young people around the key areas of consent, self-esteem and respect, because levels of sexual harassment in schools and in society are deeply rooted and harm and abuse, “Bousted said.
