Some schools are struggling to acquire enough condoms to teach lessons in sex education, according to a Department for Education report.
The report, which outlines research into the teaching of the new RSHE (relationships, sex and health education) curriculum in early adopter schools, says some schools found it “challenging” to source sufficient quantities of equipment or teaching aids, and gives an example such as “condoms for teaching a year group of pupils every academic year”.
It states: “Some schools did not know where to go for the physical resources they needed, rather than the resources not being available to them. Local networks and specialist PSHE education organisations online were often a useful starting point for where to look for physical resources.”
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It adds: “It should be noted, however, that the teaching of PSHE education requires relatively few physical resources; schools discussed teaching these subjects without the use of props.”
Schools struggling to get resources for sex education lessons
The qualitative research was carried out by Ipsos MORI and the PSHE Association among 30 schools (12 primary and 18 secondary).
The research also looked into the development and delivery of the current PSHE (personal, social, health and economic) curriculum in schools, and found “it was consistently reported” that schools often did not have the time available for teachers to attend training for the current PHSE curriculum and that this was “often linked to the perception that PSHE was not a high priority for the school”.
And it found that teachers with little experience of teaching PSHE and limited time didn’t feel confident in teaching topics such as drugs and online safety.
The new relationships and sex education (RSE) curriculum (known as “relationships education” in primary schools) was set to be rolled out as a statutory requirement from September last year, but that was delayed until this term due to Covid.
