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Education and Inspections Bill

My Lords, I support Amendments Nos. 91A and 91B on the need to make PSHE statutory in the national curriculum. I have lobbied the Minister from the first day he arrived in your Lordships’ House. I appreciate his commitment to the subject, as well as the developments that have been made since this matter has been his responsibility. Those developments include the Teacher’s handbook, the guidelines for the 12 subjects that make up PSHE, and the establishment of the first PSHE subject association—an association for teachers of PSHE to share examples of good practice and to promote PSHE through the healthy schools initiative. We should also appreciate that 5,000 teachers have benefited from the PSHE certification programme, although, as the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, said, that is nowhere near enough. Teachers must have far more understanding of the importance of PSHE teaching. I cite one example to justify that point. I recently asked a headmaster of a boys’ school in London about the PSHE programme in his school. He replied that the school did not need PSHE teaching because it was a boys’ school. I do not understand that logic, but the idea is all too prevalent that subjects such as this mean that we are talking only about girls, but of course we are not; we are talking about the need for boys, too, to have that training. I want to give three definitions from Government documents that support the case that we are all making. I make no apology for quoting back to the Government some of the things that they have said. The Teacher’s handbook defines PSHE as, "““a planned programme of teaching and learning that promotes pupils’ personal and social development, their health and well-being. It helps to give children and young people the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to lead confident, healthy and independent lives. It … helps them understand how they are developing personally and socially, tackling many of the moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up””." On the national curriculum, the Government state that the aim of the school curriculum is to, "““promote pupils' spiritual, moral social and cultural development and prepare all pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life””." Finally, the Teacher’s handbook also states: "““Effective sex and relationship education is essential””—" I repeat, ““essential””— "““if young people are to make responsible and well informed decisions about their lives. A successful programme will help young people learn to respect themselves and others, and move confidently from childhood though adolescence and into adulthood””." If we were to take those words as they are written, there would be no need for this argument, because the Government have presented their own case for making the subject statutory. If those aspirations had become reality, we would see better pupil behaviour, attendance and attainment, a reduction in bullying, improved levels of physical and mental health, a greater ability to stay safe, a decrease in early sex and a reduction in teenage pregnancy, which are all values to which the Government are committed. This morning, I spoke at a conference on teenage pregnancy. There was a speaker from Gateshead, where the level of teenage pregnancy has declined quite substantially. The speaker said that one of the main reasons for its decline was that children are taught PSHE and SRE in their schools. Again, there is no better case for the argument that we are making. In Committee, the Minister said that many aspects of PSHE are already statutory, such as SRE and drug guidance, and that a number of requirements on schools support PSHE, such as policies on bullying and child protection. I follow the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, and say politely to my noble friend that that is a rather disingenuous argument: only elements of SRE and drug education are a part of the statutory science curriculum. The teaching is too biological and infrequent and it completely ignores the relationships and emotions that the noble Lord, Lord Northbourne, so clearly identified. I refer again to the teenage pregnancy argument from the ““deep dive”” activity, which confirmed that in all those areas where there is effective teaching there is a reduction in the level of teenage pregnancy. Similarly, evidence from Stonewall shows that the answer to homophobic bullying in schools is effective and statutory PSHE in all our schools, thus enabling young people to discuss the different relationships and families that are reflective of the world in which we live. My noble friend also said in Committee that this is not a straightforward issue, which is true. The current complexity means that there is confusion and nervousness among teachers on what they can legitimately teach, what is statutory and what is optional. I hope that my noble friend will agree that, surely, the answer is to make PSHE in its entirety a statutory subject; if that is done, you get over that complexity and confusion. The noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, cited a number of organisations that have supported this demand. I should like to mention one or two more: the Catholic Education Service, the Church of England Board of Education, Mencap, the Methodist Church, the Mothers’ Union, the Parenting Forum, Relate, the Independent Advisory Group on Teenage Pregnancy and the organisation that I chair, the Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV. I understand that there are many other demands to make subjects statutory, which of course must cause a dilemma for the Government. But I challenge my noble friend to identify any other subject where the demand is greater and the breadth of the organisations making that demand is as wide as it is on this subject. I do not believe that the Government’s argument is sufficient. I sincerely believe that while PSHE remains a non-statutory part of the curriculum and while there are an inadequate number of trained staff—be it teachers or school nurses—the teaching of PSHE will remain patchy, with a continuation of bullying and risky behaviour, and a lack of respect of pupils to one another, so that the best intentions of the Government will be lost. Finally, we need to learn from the experience of European countries that have overcome many of the problems that we face. The difference is that those countries are characterised by an open attitude towards discussing sex and relationships; they have comprehensive sex and relationship education in all their schools and there is easy access to the sexual health services and advice that are required. A part of what I have quoted has come from a government document about learning from Europe. I quote the Government’s words back to them and ask: when is it all going to happen?