Kerre Woodham: Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to sex education

How did you learn about sex? Was it your parents? Your friends? A nice, dry, factual at school, or Heaven forfend, the internet? I was at a Catholic girls’ school in the 80s —that would be the 1980s, not the 1880s just for clarification— and we got pretty much nothing, as you'd expect. I received the bare basics about body functions when I was at intermediate. Girls went one night to the school hall where a projector played an ancient movie about girls and boys developing bodies, and then the boys went the next night for the same screening.  

Until I discovered Judith Krantz and Jilly Cooper's bonk-busters I had absolutely no idea, I knew they were there, but I didn't know what they were there for. Those books were absolutely great. I smuggled them into the boarding school because they described not only the sex itself, but the emotions and the passions that are tied up with sex. It’s like the difference between knowing that West Coast beach is a risky and then getting caught in a rip. You know that it's dangerous, but until you're in the middle of it, into the middle of those seas and thinking oh my God, this is more than I can handle. Until you experience it, you can know something, but until you experience it, you don't really know it.  

A report out today says too many young people are leaving school without the knowledge they need to navigate the sexual landscape. Issues like consent, managing feelings, and online safety, and as a result, the Education Review Office says schools should not be required to consult parents about the content of relationships and sexuality lessons. Misinformation, bigotry, threats of violence for heaven's sake have derailed some schools attempts at consultation and prompted some schools to reduce or avoid teaching the topic. Which is bad enough, but a lot of that interference is coming from people in groups who have absolutely no relationship with the school. They don't have kids there, they're just sticking their beaks in and demanding that sex be taught their way.  

Chris Abercrombie, the PPTA President, said on Early Edition this morning, there needs to be one clear curriculum taught in all schools across the country.  

“The problem at the moment is in the hands of these schools, and it's not meeting really anyone's needs. As report said, 3/4 of recent school leavers said they didn't learn enough, so the idea of a national curriculum is that everyone knows what's expected, everyone’s got a clear understanding of what's happening, so parents could withdraw their students if they chose to or supplement their students learning if they chose to. It's just giving everyone a clear baseline.” 

Quite. Well, that seems fair enough, doesn't it? If you don't want your child to be taught the national curriculum, you take them out of class and you teach them. And good luck to your kids if you think the curriculum is too tame, you can add in what you see as the necessary bits at home.  

Since when did parents consult about the English curriculum? Maths or science curriculum? The one thing you don't want is your child to discover sex through the Internet. Sex education, like English, like maths, like science, needs to be taught the same way right around the country, so that our children have the best possible chance of making the right choices in their lives. Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to sex education. And believing that real life relationships are what you see on internet pornography is positively dangerous. 

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