LONDON: The Liberal Democrats called on Tuesday for a significant extension of sex education in schools, saying “age-appropriate” sex education should be taught from the age of seven.
In a statement, David Laws, the education minister, has said that academies and free schools should have to teach sex and relationship education. Under current rules, sex and relationship education is compulsory in council-run secondary schools, but not for academies and free schools, and not for primary school pupils.
Laws said this would be a manifesto commitment, and that Lib Dem attempts to extend sex education had been strongly resisted by the Conservatives in government.
“We have long made the case, both inside and outside government, for updated sex and relationship education to be taught in all schools, including academies and free schools, but it is not something the Conservatives are open to,” Laws said.
“We believe that by educating children about sex and relationships in an appropriate way, we can help them to make informed choices in their personal lives. Currently, academies and free schools have no requirement to teach sex and relationship education, depriving children of important life lessons.
“The Liberal Democrats are committed to ensuring that children have access to age-appropriate sex and relationship education regardless of where they go to school.”
It is understood that the Lib Dem plan would involve primary school pupils receiving age-appropriate sex education at key stage 2, from the age of seven.
Laws said that personal, social and health education (PSHE), which is where pupils receive sex education, should also include instruction in citizenship and financial literacy. It should be a “curriculum for life”, he argued.
“By learning how to manage money and be a good citizen, we will be equipping children with the skills necessary to deal with the many practical issues that they will face in adult life, such as balancing a budget or voting for the first time.
“Teaching these important life lessons will help to build the stronger economy and fairer society that Liberal Democrats want to see.”
The Labour party is also committed to extending sex education to free schools and academies and to primary school pupils in an age-appropriate way. “We proposed this a year ago,” said a Labour source. “The Lib Dems have been dragging their feet.”
Education is one of the areas where coalition tensions have been particularly strong. Relations between Nick Clegg and Michael Gove, the former education secretary, became so bad that Clegg virtually gave up talking to Gove, and the Lib Dems miss no opportunity to stress that they would adopt different educational priorities to their coalition partners.
Lib Dem sources have admitted in the past that Gove’s unpopularity with teachers and some parents was a factor behind this, and Clegg may have been disappointed to lose an electoral asset when Gove was demoted in the summer reshuffle and replaced with Nicky Morgan. Earlier this week Laws announced another Lib Dem education manifesto commitment a proposal to triple the early years pupil premium over the course of the next parliament.
