The new Welsh RSE curriculum: should Christian teachers be concerned?

ACT is keen to offer support to members and school staff across the devolved nations; we are, after all, a nationwide fellowship of Christians in Education! So should our members be concerned about the state of Relationships and Sexuality Education in Welsh schools?

Dr Carys Moseley. Public Policy Consultant, Christian Concern

All maintained primary schools and nurseries in Wales have started implementing the Relationships and Sexuality curriculum this September. Over half of secondary schools are delaying the new Welsh curriculum including RSE until September 2023.

All teachers should read the RSE Code for themselves. The overall content is very similar to RSE in England. The RSE Code refers to ‘rights’ eights times, mostly in primary teaching, but only once to ‘responsibility’, in the secondary. This reflects the underlying philosophy of ‘sexual rights’. All teachers should read the RSE Code for themselves to see what is mandatory, and not simply rely on the training materials provided by Welsh Government or local authorities.

Key concepts are poorly defined

The RSE guidance for teachers on developing the curriculum provides unsatisfactory definitions of the key concepts. Sex is ‘attributed to a person on the basis of primary sex characteristics (genitalia) and reproductive functions’. This does not come up to the standard of the biological definition of sex as based on chromosomes and therefore unchangeable, taught by the Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC exam board) Biology syllabuses for GCSE and A-Level. The biological definition of sex is recognized in case law. The RSE definition echoes that of transsexual rights activism of the last quarter century.

Relationships ‘can be interpersonal or intrapersonal’ Interpersonal relationships refers to the connections and interactions between two or more people. Intrapersonal relationships refers to the relationship one has with oneself. Both types are inextricably linked, shifting and changing over time. They can be familial, spiritual, romantic, platonic and sexual.’

As can be seen from my bolding of the definition, this allows for normalising sexual relationships between more than two people.

Sexuality is ‘a central aspect of being human and encompasses sexual orientation, gender identities and roles, sex, reproduction and intimacy. Sexuality is experienced and expressed through thoughts, beliefs, behaviours and relationships.’

This very expansive definition of sexuality is obviously linked to the fact that RSE has been mainstreamed across all subjects in the curriculum (‘cross-cutting’). This in turn is why parents’ right to remove children from RSE lessons could be removed, as it would lead to too many parents removing their children from school altogether.

Teaching about (sexual) consent

The Code says that children will be taught ‘the principles of general consent as pre-requisites for learning about sexual consent at the developmentally appropriate time’ (i.e. age 11 upwards). It recommends teaching children to ask for permission to share toys, or learning to respect personal boundaries. The Code only requires teaching about ‘understanding the age of consent’.

No reference to ‘men’, ‘women’, ‘boys’, ‘girls’, babies in the RSE Code

The RSE Code does not refer even once to babies as the natural result of human fertility and sexual intercourse. It does require ‘awareness of abortion’. The Code never refers to ‘men’, ‘women’, ‘fathers’, ‘mothers’, ‘boys’ or ‘girls’. This gender-neutral language is clearly deliberate, in line with the strong influence of Queer Theory (LGBT philosophy).

Turning secondary pupils into LGBT activists and allies

Gender and sexuality are taught to children aged 7 upwards. Marriage is never mentioned in the primary phases of the Code, only once in the secondary. In secondary school, pupils (referred to as ‘learners’ throughout) are to be taught to become advocates for rights relating to sex, gender and sexuality. In other words, they are to be indoctrinated into becoming LGBT activists and allies. This may well break the law on political impartiality in education.

‘Consent’ trumps social norms and authority

The RSE Code requires teaching children aged 7 upwards the following: “Understanding the social and emotional norms and pressures that lead to non-consensual behaviours, friendships and relationships, for example, gender norms. Developing the skills to build consensual behaviours and relationships and know how to safely respond, challenge and report non-consensual behaviours and relationships offline and online.”

This means that ‘gender norms’ are deemed to be ‘non-consensual behaviours’ that children should report to the relevant authorities. This plants into children’s minds the idea that people’s consent (including theirs) should be required for adhering to established ‘gender norms’. Here we can see that teaching about consent is not exclusively geared to helping children learn about sexual consent. It risks instilling a mentality of ‘my rights first’, and to turn children against parental and other authority.

Prioritising consent over adherence to social norms and convention risks making children unteachable in other areas, as RSE is to be mainstreamed across the curriculum.

RSE Code

https://gov.wales/curriculum-wales-relationships-and-sexuality-education-rse-code

Statutory Guidance on RSE

https://hwb.gov.wales/curriculum-for-wales/designing-your-

curriculum/cross-cutting-themes-for-designing-your-curriculum/

Designing Your Curriculum

https://hwb.gov.wales/curriculum-for-wales/designing-your-curriculum/