Leading education organisations, including the Department for Education and teaching unions, are meeting today to discuss supporting teachers’ mental health and wellbeing during the “potentially challenging” introduction of new RSE (relationships and sex education) lessons.
The new RSE curriculum becomes compulsory from September. But some early-adopter schools have already experienced opposition from parents, and there are fears that a bigger backlash could follow.
Parents at two primary schools in Birmingham protested over the teaching of same-sex relationships last year, and at one school the NAHT school leaders’ union warned there was “a limit to what teachers could take” after parents’ staged protests outside the school, resulting in court action.
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Now leaders in education want to discuss the “emotional support” that could be offered to teachers as the lessons are rolled out nationally.
Sinéad McBrearty, CEO at the Education Support charity, who is chairing the meeting, said schools that had adopted the curriculum early had found the engagement phase with parents “challenging and emotionally demanding”.
She said: “Specific groups, such as senior leaders or LGBT+ staff, might be affected in different ways or to a more acute level.
“It’s about ensuring that staff have access to the most appropriate and impactful support to help them manage their mental health and wellbeing during a potentially challenging period.”
One headteacher in an early-adopter school in North London, who did not wish to be identified, told Tes his staff had been shocked by the level of opposition from a minority of parents over the same-sex relationship of the curriculum.
He said: “There were extreme views being fired at school staff and that is quite tricky to deal with, so we had quite a lot of discussions to make sure everything was OK. You just have to check in with your staff to make sure they’re OK and to prepare them. I’m pretty sure this is going to come up in a lot of schools.”
Also attending the discussions today are the NEU teaching union and NAHT.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary at NAHT, said: “There is widespread agreement from schools, parents, policymakers and young people themselves about the need to provide high-quality relationships and sex education. It is not just the law, it is the right thing to do. We must make sure young people are properly educated about the world around them.
“This requires careful engagement and implementation, so we must also make sure the school’s leadership are setting the right tone, doing the right things and staff are getting the right support.”
The Department for Education is introducing compulsory relationships education for primary pupils, and relationships and sex education for secondary pupils from September 2020.
The DfE says it is investing in a central support package to help teachers introduce the new subjects, including a new online service featuring training materials and an implementation guide and resources, which will be available from spring 2020. It says there will also be training available for teachers through existing regional networks and with expert organisations, schools and teachers.
