Whole School Policy
6.1This report has highlighted the need for teachers of sex education to be clear about the aims of the individual programme and secure in their understanding of how information is to be presented to young people. This can only be achieved if the management and organisation of individual programmes has been carefully considered and communicated to everyone involved. The different sectors all have particular management issues, in addition to the generic ones of staff development, resource allocation and curricular development.
6.2Secondary schools enjoy a degree of freedom in the way headteachers can configure different structures of promoted posts which are dependent on the school roll. There is therefore no real consistency in the way secondary schools delegate responsibility for the management of sex education and other aspects of health education. Managerial responsibility is likely to be spread across a number of promoted staff, usually, but not exclusively in guidance or senior management. The majority of these staff carry other responsibilities associated with their promoted post and this could mitigate against development. Secondary headteachers therefore need to ensure that all staff are clear about the allocation of the responsibility for different aspects of sex education, including its interface with Personal and Social Education and Religious and Moral Education as part of the 5-14 Programme and beyond.
6.3In primary schools, particularly the smaller ones, the issue may be somewhat different. The headteacher may have to take personal responsibility for managing and delivering a substantial part of the programme. These curricular pressures on a relatively small community of staff are encouraging some schools to work collaboratively, sharing curriculum development and expertise. There may also be significant advantages in developing further, the links between a secondary school and its associated primaries to form an educational cluster. Authorities might wish to consider inviting associated schools to develop a cluster approach to sex/health education.
6.4All local authorities need to determine whether, taking account of national advice, they wish to devise an authority policy on sex education or provide guidelines for schools to develop their own school/cluster policy. In either event, it should be the responsibility of the individual headteacher to ensure that all staff have access to and are familiar with the policy. It should also be the responsibility of the individual headteachers, or a delegated member of their senior management team to approve programmes, methodology and resources that are to be used in the school as part of a sex education or Personal and Social Education programme. They should ensure that parents are consulted on all such materials in advance of their use in the classroom. This is already established practice in a number of schools and extension of the practice to all schools should offer important additional safeguards against any errors of judgement.
6.5Schools will need support in developing programmes of sex education which lend themselves to more sustained and detailed open scrutiny and the corresponding public debate on issues relating to sexual practices among young people.
6.6The education authority needs to be confident that:
6.7School managers need to take account of the issues arising from the different needs of boys and girls. These include:
For many young males, school health education classes may be the only opportunity they have to learn about and to discuss issues relating to sexuality and gender.
6.8A range of issues combine to place additional burdens on teachers. These include the recent media coverage of section 2A, the increased emphasis on consultation with parents and the pressures associated with public health issues such as teenage pregnancies. There may therefore be merit in attempting collaborative approaches when organising lessons.
Monitoring & Evaluation
6.9The publication ‘A Route to Health Promotion: Self-evaluation Using Performance Indicators’38 is based on the national approach to self evaluation which was set out in ‘How Good is our School?’39 and provides a framework for schools to undertake a structured audit of health promotion. It would now seem appropriate for the Scottish Executive to assist local authorities in extending self-evaluation to sex education by commissioning the production of exemplar materials which build on ‘A Route to Health Promotion’. Individual schools and local authorities will wish to use these materials to evaluate the quality of the programmes operating. Headteachers and other members of the senior management team require to undertake monitoring and evaluation of programmes as part of this self evaluation.
6.10Local authorities are now fully aware of the implications of the revised guidelines in health education and the development of statutory guidance in relation to sex education. Individual headteachers are likely to anticipate requests from parents and school boards for an early opportunity to discuss the impact of these developments on schools. Given the significance of the issues and the level of public interest, the Scottish Executive should organise seminars for groups of local authorities in order that key representatives from each authority is clear about the nature of the guidance and associated support material. Local authorities could then be expected to disseminate this information to staff and parents. Consistency will become an important consideration if we are to secure the confidence and support that will be necessary to support further development of the partnerships which are so critical to effective sex education.
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CONSIDERATIONS ARISING
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