Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“When the DUP returned to Stormont to implement the Protocol, one of their defences was that devolution gives us a degree of control which is otherwise absent.
“It is telling, however, that when asked if he has any plans to revise the statutory guidance for schools on Relationships and Sexuality Education the DUP Education Minister declined to say he would.
“This is a matter which has been of great concern to parents across Northern Ireland, something attested to by the extraordinary number of responses to the consultation and the volume of correspondence received by MLAs. I have even heard suggestions that the DUP’s decision to take the Education portfolio would result in the changes being rolled back. Anyone who held out such hopes will be disappointed.
“If devolution cannot reverse changes which result in schools being required to teach about access to abortion regardless of the ethos of the school what is the point of having it at all?”
Mr Allister’s question and the Minister’s reply are as follows:
Question:
To ask the Minister of Education what plans has he to revise the statutory guidance for schools on Relationships and Sexuality Education.
Answer:
In June 2023, the Secretary of State of Northern Ireland, made and laid Regulations under his powers in section 9 of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019. The Regulations make changes to the Northern Ireland curriculum to add teaching about sexual and reproductive health and rights covering prevention of early pregnancy and access to abortion as part of Learning for Life and Work at key stages 3 and 4.
The Regulations also require the Department to issue guidance by 1 January 2024 to ensure that: pupils receive education on sexual and reproductive health and rights, covering prevention of early pregnancy and access to abortion; and the education received by pupils is age-appropriate, comprehensive and scientifically accurate.
My Department therefore issued guidance to schools on 1 January 2024 on the changes to the Education (Curriculum Minimum Content) Order (Northern Ireland) 2007 (“the 2007 Order”) made by the Secretary of State. This specifically covers age-appropriate and scientifically accurate education on sexual and reproductive health and rights covering prevention of early pregnancy and access to abortion in the curriculum. In line with the 2007 Order, the guidance does not prescribe the detailed content of what that schools are to teach. The Board of Governors and the Principal have statutory responsibility to deliver the minimum curriculum content but they also have autonomy over when, how and who is involved in curriculum delivery, aligned with the ethos of the school.
The guidance also sets out the circumstances in which, at the request of a parent, a pupil may be excused from the new elements of the Learning for Life and Work curriculum introduced by the Secretary of State.
In April 2023, the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) published a thematic evaluation of the preventative curriculum (of which RSE is a part). The Department has established a task and finish group that is considering currently how best to respond to the ETI findings. Further guidance on RSE in schools will be considered by my Department in due course.