Response by the Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships to the Review of Personal, Social, Health and Economics (PSHE) Educationsubmitted on 30th November 2011

Question 1.What do you consider the core outcomes PSHE education should achieve and what areas of basic core knowledge and awareness should pupils be expected to acquire at school through PSHE education?

The Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships takes the view – and it is one which is echoed by Ofsted’s 2010 report which found that ‘students in secondary schools said that their sex and relationships education was too late and too limited to be of much use’ – that young people of both primary and secondary school age have a greater desire for, and capacity to comprehend, the nature of relating and relationships than is assumed by the otherwise generally useful and informative statutory guidance published by DfEE in 2000 (‘Sex and Relationship Education Guidance’).

In terms, therefore, of basic core knowledge and awareness which pupils should be expected to acquire at school through PSHE education and which is not currently covered by the guidance, TCCR suggests the following:

  • An understanding of the intimate link between the sexual and the emotional in human relationships, and the key importance this link holds for healthy relating and healthy relationships
  • An understanding of the many and various factors – both conscious and unconscious – that inform and underpin human attraction and relationship choice
  • An understanding of the way in which relationships change over time, and that this is a normal process; and an understanding of the role which the acknowledgement and acceptanceof such changes plays in committed and stable relationships
  • An understanding of the importance of managing conflict effectively (we acknowledge that the 2000 guidance refers to this aspect of PSHE education; however, we believe that elements relating to this should include, for example, an understanding of the relative impacts of both poorly- and well-resolved parental conflict on children.

Question 2.Have you got any evidence that demonstrates why a) existing elements and b) new elements should be part of the PSHE education curriculum?

Your answer should provide a summary of the evidence and where appropriate contain the title, author and publication date of research.

Question 3. Which elements of PSHE education, if any, should be made statutory (in addition to sex education) within the basic curriculum?

TCCR’s understanding is that ‘Sex and Relationship Education Guidance’ published by DfEE in 2000 forms the basis of what should compulsorily be taught on this subject.

This may seem like a minor point, however the fact that the present Review of Personal, Social, Health and Economics consultation refers to this simply as ‘Sex Education’ (see point 3.3 of the consultation document) may be significant, given that Ofsted found in their 2010 report that “in secondary schools [...] students’ knowledge and understanding was often good about the biology of sex but weaker about relationships.”

TCCR suggests that, as a matter of course, the Government refers to this subject in full (i.e. as ‘sex and relationship education’) as this will encourage teachers to understand that these two elements cannot be taught in isolation from each other if they are to deliver high quality PSHE education.

Question 4.Are the national, non-statutory frameworks and programmes of study an effective way of defining content?

Question 5. How can schools better decide for themselves what more pupils need to know, in consultation with parents and others locally?

Question 6. How do you think the statutory guidance on sex and relationships education could be simplified, especially in relation to
a) strengthening the priority given to teaching about relationships, b) the importance of positive parenting and c) teaching young people about sexual consent?

a)One possible way to achieve this might be to reframe the guidance so that the sex education is treated as a subset of relationship education. For example, rather than learning about contraception, sexual health advice, reasons for delaying sexual activity etc. as discrete activities divorced from any relational context, the guidance could address each of these topics from a relationship-based perspective (e.g. at what point in, or before, a relationship might a young person want advice about contraception or sexual health, and why? What might the effects be on a young person’s self of self, or self-esteem, and on their current and future relationships of embarking upon, or delaying, sexual activity?). Reframing materialso that it is more contextualised (i.e. more obviously linked to the conduct of human relationships), and less mechanical in nature, may go some way to resolving some of the short-comings highlighted in the 2010 Ofsted report.

b)TCCR believes that the term ‘positive parenting’ is unhelpfully vogue-ish and premised on a number of poorly-evidenced assumptions. While it is certainly true that the individual or joint parenting behaviours or techniques used by one or both parents have an effect on children, the use of the term suggests that such behaviours and techniques are somehow isolated from the relationship and dynamics between the parents who employ them. Research shows that parenting interventions which focus on the quality of the relationship between parents rather than exclusively on the parenting behaviours or techniques of parents pay the best dividends in terms of rectifying the negative consequences of family stress, family conflict and family breakdown on children and parents (references upon request). TCCR suggests that rather than attempt to simplify the guidance in relation to the ‘importance of positive parenting’ that the guidance should clearly set out that a primary aim of sex and relationship education be that pupils will gain an understanding of the importance of the quality of the relationship between parents (whether or not one parent is absent from the parental home) in children’s socio-emotional development.

Question 7. Have you got any examples of case studies that show particular best practice in teaching PSHE education and achieving the outcomes we want for PSHE education?
Your answer should be evidence based and provide details of real-life case studies

Question 8. How can PSHE education be improved using levers proposed in the Schools White Paper, such as Teaching Schools, or through alternative methods of improving quality, such as the use of experienced external agencies (public, private and voluntary), to support schools?

Question 9. Have you got any examples of good practice in assessing and tracking pupils' progress in PSHE education?
Your answer should be evidence based and provide details of real-life case studies

Question 10. How might schools define and account for PSHE education's outcomes to pupils, parents and local people?