Aged 4 and in primary school, Nancy and Nadeem are taught about relationships. It’s on the curriculum, and their teacher delivers the lessons during circle time. “What is friendship?” she asks. “What makes a good friend?”

Later, when they are aged 11, Nancy and Nadeem’s relationships lessons move on to more practical discussions. What is the proper name for a willy? What is puberty? Throughout secondary school, sex and relationships is taught during PSHE and biology. Nancy and Nadeem get their full complement, as specified in the Department for Education’s guidance.

And yet, when they leave school and go to college, there is no mandatory relationships or sex education. Before the age of 16, Nancy and Nadeem must be taught RSE, but as soon as they reach the legal age of consent, the official education stops.

The DfE recently overhauled its RSE guidance, but the new requirements do not apply to sixth-form colleges, 16-19 academies or FE colleges - although the guidance does “encourage [these institutions] to support students by offering these subjects”.

Some experts say this isn’t enough - a stance that is supported by recent data around the number of sexually transmitted infections in young people. According to Public Health England, STI numbers went up by 5 per cent across all age groups between 2018 and 2019. PHE also found that in 2017 there was a new case of chlamydia or gonorrhoea diagnosed in a young person (aged 15-24) in England every four minutes.

It’s not just about preventing STIs, though. Making sure that students are prepared for the emotional side of relationships, and that they understand issues around, for example, consent and contraception, is equally important to their health and wellbeing.

This all puts colleges in a tricky position. While they want to support the wellbeing of their students, the fact that RSE is not mandatory means that they have to find the time to squeeze these subjects into what is already a time-poor curriculum.

Yet it is important that colleges find a way to provide them, says Dr Hamish Mohammed, consultant STI scientist at Public Health England, because students’ health depends on it.

“Young people are more likely to be diagnosed with an STI than people aged 25 and older,” he explains. “STIs present a real threat to young people.”

But what should good RSE look like in FE? And how can colleges deliver a programme that works for the range of learners that they teach, while also making time for all the other non-optional content that they are expected to deliver?

According to Amelia Jenkinson, CEO of School of Sexuality Education, which provides sex and relationships education for schools, FE colleges should start by considering what education their cohort has had so far, and then see where they can go further.

“In addition to reproductive and sexual health, it’s important to provide a safe space for students to learn about sexual consent, digital consent and online sexual harassment, body image, sexual pleasure, positive relationships, gender and sexuality and more,” she says. “Ideally, this should build on their learning in secondary school, as RSE should be incremental and age-appropriate.”

Alison Hadley, director of Teenage Pregnancy Knowledge Exchange and a teenage pregnancy adviser to Public Health England, agrees with this approach.

“Look at what education the students have received up until this point, and assess for any gaps,” she says.

“For some students, their secondary school education might not have been particularly stable, and they may have missed out on receiving any RSE due to absence.”

Admittedly, this won’t be easy. With so many students studying different courses, and coming from different backgrounds, colleges will have a challenge on their hands to identify the specific gaps. And once those gaps are identified, there will still be the issue of how to overcome the classic teenage reluctance to listen to adults talking about sex in order to actually deliver the content.

To combat this, some colleges are using near-peers to deliver RSE sessions. Sexpression:UK is a charity that trains university student volunteers to deliver RSE in schools and colleges. Eleanor Cochrane, the charity’s externals and press director, says that this approach allows for more honest discussions around sexual behaviour.

“Good RSE relies on trust and participation. As our volunteers are exclusively students, we are often closer in age to the young people we deliver sessions to and so it is easier for us to relate to them than teachers. Young people, therefore, typically feel more understood by peer-leaders, allowing them to engage in frank and open conversation,” she explains.

The tone of these conversations is important, she continues. Although RSE is a serious topic, you want to aim for students to have a positive experience because this will be more conducive to learning.

“We aim for young people to enjoy our sessions, to feel open when talking about relationships and sex, and to understand that a little laughter is OK,” Cochrane says.

This matters, she adds, because even if a student’s previous experience of RSE has not been positive, a good experience at college can “empower [students] to feel more confident talking about sex and making informed decisions about their bodies”.

Calling in a near-peer educator is one option, but colleges don’t need to rely on external providers to make sure that students have a good RSE experience. This can all be done in-house, says Jenkinson. The important thing is to make sure that the person delivering RSE knows what they are talking about; if sessions are delivered in a rush by an untrained tutor, then they are unlikely to be successful.

“Whoever delivers RSE must be trained to do so. They must have a thorough understanding of what constitutes high-quality and inclusive relationships and sexuality education. They must be able to create a safe and non-judgemental classroom environment in which students feel comfortable. They also need to have a thorough and evidence-informed understanding of core RSE subjects,” she explains.

So, what does constitute high-quality RSE for college students? Many colleges opt to build the provision into their tutor time programmes (see box, below). This works well at Hopwood Hall College in Greater Manchester, according to Nimisha Mistry-Miah, the college’s head of student support and equality.

Unlike in secondary school, post-16 students have the option to withdraw themselves from RSE lessons if they wish - but Mistry-Miah finds that her students don’t exercise that right and are keen to attend the sessions. “[They can opt out] if they want, but generally all of our learners attend all of the RSE sessions,” she says.

As for the content of the sessions, Hadley says that there are four key principles to keep in mind when planning your provision.

1. Your content is unbiased

All those working with young people have a duty to ensure that the RSE they receive is free from bias. This is a key principle of the DfE’s latest RSE guidance, and although this is not mandatory in FE, it makes sense for colleges to take their lead from the statutory guidance for secondary schools because this will help to join the dots and make transition easier for students.

For instance, when discussing contraception and pregnancy options, colleges should cover all bases and signpost students “to sources where they will receive unbiased information”, says Hadley.

This is particularly important for this age group, as “when young people are aged 16 to 17 this is the most common age for teenage conceptions to happen”, she adds.

2. You consider your students as individuals

Students may arrive at college with a patchy grounding in RSE, despite the fact that the subject is mandatory in schools. It is important to be aware that some individuals may have missed key sessions through sickness, poor attendance or school exclusions, or because their parents exercised their right to withdraw their children from sex education.

Similarly, students who have arrived in the UK from other countries might have had a very different RSE experience and, consequently, will need more support. This means that colleges will need to take an individualised approach.

“You must find out what RSE all of your students have previously received, paying particular attention to certain groups,” says Hadley. “Look at students who have been in care, have English as a second language, asylum seekers and other groups where they may have had disruptions to their education.”

3. You consult your young people

Taking a personalised approach won’t only be beneficial for those students whose previous RSE was disrupted - it will also make sure that all students get the information they need. One of the best ways to find out what you need to include in sessions for a specific cohort is to ask the students themselves, says Hadley. “Ask your young people what they want their sessions to include. You are more likely to get good engagement if they believe they feel they have had a say in the process,” she explains.

4. Your RSE is tailored to your local context

The context you teach in will make a difference, too, Hadley points out. No two colleges will be able to offer exactly the same advice when it comes to RSE, because the options available to students will vary depending on where the college is based. For example, access to emergency contraception is not the same everywhere.

“Local areas have different arrangements for providing free emergency contraception, and this might include pharmacy provision, as well as sexual health clinics and GPs,” she says.

This is one reason why off-the-shelf provision might not always be the most helpful - it won’t always take into account local differences.

Ultimately, colleges will know their own students best. And as long as RSE remains optional at FE, there is one thing that matters perhaps more than anything for this age group, says Cochrane: that we are not afraid to keep talking about sex.

“Communication is essential every step of the way when planning and delivering RSE. This means ensuring that the whole school community is listened to during the planning stages and that communication continues throughout delivery and review,” she says.

Grainne Hallahan is recruitment editor and senior content writer at Tes

This article originally appeared in the 20 November 2020 issue under the headline “Find time for sex in your college curriculum”