Teachers will be expected to teach consent, peer pressure and grooming as part of a shakeup of sex education lessons, according to guidance due out for consultation this week.

Understanding what consent means, both in terms of giving it and recognising it in others, and the laws around sexual exploitation, abuse, grooming, harassment and domestic abuse will all be subjects included in the new Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) lessons.

The government announced last year that Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) is to be made compulsory in all schools from September 2019 and the guidance details will be published this week for consultation.

The new teaching is designed to give children clear information about their rights over their own bodies and their responsibilities towards others when dealing with their peers, families and adults both in real life and online, according to the Observer.

The content is designed age-appropriate way, beginning in primary school, including how to deal with peer pressure so consent is not forced and the understanding that consent can be withdrawn, both online and offline. 

The lessons will be taught to all pupils in academies, maintained schools and independent schools.

Education secretary Damian Hinds  said that it is “vital “that every child knows about their rights and that nothing should happen to them without their consent.

“This guidance was last updated before the children who are at school today were born and, while many schools already choose to teach young people about the importance of healthy relationships, this updated guidance will support schools as we make relationships education compulsory,” said Mr Hinds. 

“This new guidance will ensure lessons teach children and young people how to recognise when someone else has not given consent and more importantly why they should not to put pressure on someone else to do something they don’t want to.”

The same law which will make RSE compulsory, also gave the education secretary the power to make PSHE statutory.

The PHSE Association is clamouring for PSHE as a subject to be made statutory, warning that making only sex education compulsory could lead to confusion.

A report published last month by  a coalition of teaching organisations and children’s charities  backed calls for the entire subject to be made statutory.