An article examined how families discussed sexual matters, and the feasibility of using a computer program to promote communication about sexual topics. The majority of parents and their children were found to discuss sexual matters openly within families.
Source: Triece Turnbull, Anna van Wersch, and Paul van Schaik, 'Parents as educators of sex and relationship education: the role for effective communication in British families', Health Education Journal, Volume 70 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Sep
A paper reviewed a programme of research aimed at providing guidance for the evidence-based provision of personal, social, health, and economic (PSHE) education. It summarized the major impediments and facilitators of evidence-based programming, and described a model curriculum for the delivery of evidence-based PSHE.
Source: Daniel Hale, John Coleman, and Richard Layard, A Model for the Delivery of Evidence-Based PSHE (Personal Wellbeing) in Secondary Schools, DP1071, Centre for Economic Performance (London School of Economics)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Aug
An article examined 'sexuality discourses' in the secondary school curriculum in England. Issues relating to sexual diversity were 'noticeably absent' from the curriculum. Teachers were not explicitly encouraged to explore sexual diversity in their teaching. The effects of this on young people who identified themselves as lesbian/gay/bisexual/transsexual were overwhelmingly negative.
Source: Helen Sauntson and Kathryn Simpson, 'Investigating sexuality discourses in the UK secondary English curriculum', Journal of Homosexuality, Volume 58 Issue 6-7
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jul
The report was published of an independent (government-commissioned) review of the 'commercialization and sexualization' of childhood. It recommended a series of measures designed to strengthen limits on children's ability to access pornography and sexualized images through a range of media, including television, the internet, and mobile phones.
Source: Reg Bailey, Letting Children Be Children: Report of an independent review of the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood, Cm 8078, Department for Education, TSO
Links: Report | Hansard | DE press release | Downing Street letter | Brook/FPA press release | CARE press release | Childrens Commissioner press release | IPA press release | Mothers Union press release | SPUC press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2011-Jun
A study found higher alcohol-related hospital admissions in areas with higher rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection. Services that aimed to address teenage conception should include alcohol consumption in young men as well as young women, since alcohol misuse in both sexes independently predicted teenage pregnancy and sexual infections.
Source: Penny Cook, Corinne Harkins, Michela Morleo, Ian Jarman, Claire Tiffany, Mark Bellis, Xin Zhang, Clare Perkins, and Penelope Phillips-Howard, Contributions of Alcohol Use to Teenage Pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Infection Rates, Centre for Public Health (Liverpool John Moores University)
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Jun
A report said that introducing a national curriculum for sex education would see control taken from schools and centralized in the hands of those who advocated the use of sexually explicit resources – resources which most parents would find unacceptable, and which would increase the problem of the 'sexualization' of childhood.
Source: Too Much, Too Young: Exposing primary school sex education materials, Christian Institute
Links: Report | Christian Institute press release | BHA press release | SEF press release | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Mar
A report examined the delivery models of personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education in primary and secondary schools in England.
Source: Eleanor Formby et al., Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) Education: A Mapping Study of the Prevalent Models of Delivery and their Effectiveness, Research Report RR080, Department for Education
Links: Report | Brief | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2011-Jan