It’s not that British school children are coming into their sexuality any quicker than kids from any place else. But it does seem UK school teachers are demanding more be done about sex education. According to the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA), teachers are “crying out,” for what is called, in that country, RSE (relationship and sex education) teaching materials.
Upskirting, downblousing, cyberflashing, and sextortion
The four lead-off points to be addressed, and pretty much combatted, according to the calls from educators are “upskirting,” taking a photograph up someone’s skirt without their permission (singer Shakira recently stepped off stage at Miami club over this), “downblousing,” coming from the other direction, taking photos down a woman's top…again without consent, “cyberflashing,” someone sending someone else unwanted and unsolicited sexual images or videos digitally and all kinds of extortion involving sex.
The CCEA was also said to be getting short films dealing with consent and period dignity. But according to the story above, there is a difference between teachers being given materials, and having the confidence to deliver and use what is needed in a classroom setting.
And, as always, there is concern that home-taught religious beliefs might halt some of the application or just discussion of needed information. Of course, teachers claim that there is no excuse for not teaching scientific facts even if there us a sure “shoehorning,” of this information when it is taught.
There is also a complaint in the UK over the consistency of RSE materials.
At the beginning of the year Northern Ireland, a geographically close neighbor to the heart of the UK but some would argue some points away in political climate, made it mandatory that their post-primary schools taught sex education. They are now required to teach pupils about abortion access as well as the prevention of early pregnancy.
The importance of sex education
According to the US CDC, sex education provides a three-pronged service to students: “Improving health education,” “Connecting young people to the health services they need,” and “Making school environments safer and more supportive.” Furthermore, “a quality sexual health education curriculum targets the development of functional knowledge and skills needed to promote healthy behaviors and avoid risks.”
As indeed the world does get riskier, from sources and influences too numerous to name (and what each US political party would easily damn the other for) no one could rightly argue over students being better educated in what they might face of the world at large, in their own homes and in their personal relationships.
