We welcome today’s announcement that a Labour Government would make Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) compulsory in all state-funded schools, including Academies, Free Schools and Voluntary Aided schools. It has been reported in Pink News that Labour plans to make ‘age-appropriate SRE more LGBT inclusive’ and will also ‘ensure all teachers are trained to deal with homophobic bullying’.
This policy would include faith schools, which make up about a third of state-funded schools. This is very welcome as we believe children and young people have a right to excellent, comprehensive and statutory SRE regardless of the school they attend. However, we will be working to ensure that faith schools will not be afforded any opt-outs, such as on teaching about abortion or LGBT rights.
We support a broad and balanced curriculum including teaching: about non-religious beliefs such as Humanism as well as different religious beliefs; comprehensive PSHE and SRE; science including evolution.