Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Lizzy Buchan

'Horrendous' sex education classes for young pupils to be investigated by children's tsar

The Children’s Commissioner has expressed alarm at "horrendous" examples of sex education in schools, which included young children being taught about rape.

Dame Rachel de Souza said she would look into concerns from MPs about examples of young children being exposed to age inappropriate content in class.

Tory MP Miriam Cates told the Education Committee that constituents had raised concerns, including "a nine-year-old coming home, shaking, white as a sheet, because they've been taught in detail about rape".

The former biology teacher questioned whether some Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) in schools was "damaging" children.

She said: "One of the things that really concerns me is the introduction of adult ideas - about sex but other things as well - too early to children when they are not developmentally able to process it."

Ms Cates compared this to teaching four-year-olds about quadratic equations, and said pupils should not be exposed to complex and difficult conversations about sex before they are ready.

"Of course, at some point, children need to know the reality of the world we live in and to be taught how to keep themselves safe and consent," she added.

Dame Rachel said age-appropriate materials are "absolutely critical" and she was concerned that headteachers were outsourcing teaching of sex education to external providers as they were worried about it.

She expressed alarm at examples raised by Ms Cates during a Westminster Hall debate last week, where the MP said the Government new framework had "opened the floodgates" to "deeply inappropriate, wildly inaccurate, sexually explicit and damaging materials in the name of sex education".

Examples Ms Cates gave included dice showing body parts, used to prompt pupils to suggest different sexual positions, and youngsters being taught about "rough sex", spanking and choking.

She said one parent in her constituency was left distraught after her six-year-old was taught about masturbation in school.

Dame Rachel told MPs today: "Children tell me they want to know about adult life, they want to know about relationships, they want good information. I know that that's families' job but school has a role here too."

She told Ms Cates: "I was shocked by your examples and I am going to look at it."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.