6. Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Education: Relationships and Sexuality Education

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:22 pm on 22 May 2018.

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Photo of Kirsty Williams Kirsty Williams Liberal Democrat 5:22, 22 May 2018

Thank you very much, Lynne. The concern about the status of this subject in the curriculum is one of the reasons why I have decided to make it statutory in the new curriculum going forward—to be able to give it that prominence and to be able to secure this learning in the curriculum. It is a mental health issue. It's absolutely crucial that we equip our children with the scaffolding and the resilience to respond to the situations they may find themselves in. A 13-year old girl in receipt of sexting—you know, pictures or those messages that constantly say, 'Take a photograph of yourself and send it to me'—this is the reality of our children's lives, and we need to equip them to be able to deal with that. 

The research put forward in the Stonewall 'School Report 2017' shows that LGBTQI+ identifying young people are still more likely to suffer from poor mental health, self-harm and depression. So, it's imperative that we act and we make sure that our curriculum going forward is inclusive. Otherwise, we're leaving these children to suffer alone. We're leaving these children to suffer alone. And that's why we'll be taking the opportunity in the autumn term to have published early in the new year new advice and guidance to support the name change, and to support this fully inclusive approach, because we can't just wait until the new curriculum. 

With regards to the new curriculum, obviously, work is being undertaken at the moment with a specific working group looking at the health and well-being AoLE. And if it hasn't happened already, I have written to the Chair of the committee inviting her and, indeed, all committee members to participate in some visits to some of our pioneer schools who are working on each individual AoLE, so that Members can see for themselves actually what that work looks like on the ground, rather than simply just hearing from me about it. So, obviously, this is an important part of the health and well-being AoLE development work. But, crucially, we've also got pioneer schools that are looking at the professional development needs of teachers to be able to deliver the new curriculum, and this will form part of that work, too. 

At this stage, I am not amending the right of parents to withdraw children from lessons, but we will have to look at that as we go forward with the new curriculum, because the nature of the new curriculum is much more cross-cutting. There aren't individual lessons in the same kind of way. But I would encourage all parents, if they have concerns about these issues, to have a conversation with their school about what's being taught in school. But, as we go forward and as we change and develop our new curriculum, we'll have to take these issues under closer and more careful consideration about how that will practically work in the new circumstances.