Responding to the revised Relationship and Sex Education guidance published by the UK government today, Chiara Capraro, Gender Justice Programme Director, at Amnesty International UK, said:    

“Amnesty welcomes this revised statutory guidance that recognises the benefits of appropriate RSE at all stages of education and empowers teachers to use their professional judgement to cover what is appropriate and relevant to their pupils.   

“Guidance on tackling misogyny, challenging gender stereotypes and focusing on consent and respect in relationships is particularly welcome.    

“The guidance rightly recognises that the curriculum must be up-to-speed with children’s ever-evolving experience of the online world and how strongly this shapes beliefs and attitudes.   

“However, as much as this guidance is positive news, the reality is that teachers continue to be overwhelmed and do not feel equipped to teach RSE. Unless there is substantial investment in high-quality, ongoing training for teachers, the transformative potential of this guidance will not be harnessed.   

“We also remain concerned that the content on LGBT lives remains inadequate, including at primary level, and that content relevant to the experiences of trans children is missing. This section of the guidance remains confused rather than taking the opportunity to recognise that sex, sexual orientation, gender presentation, identity and reassignment are distinct but interlinked topics. This is vital not only to teach respect for different protected characteristics, but to confidently tackle how gender stereotypes underpin imbalances of power that perpetuate harmful ideas and structures that result in violence against women and girls.”