Thank you for contacting the Department for Education.

Exam Results

If your enquiry is about 2021 exam results, we will endeavour to get a
response to you as soon as possible.

If your enquiry is related to exam appeals or priority appeals, we
recommend that students should discuss the appeals process with their
school or college in the first instance. JCQ have also published a student
guide to appeals which can be found here:
[1]https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/upload....
If a student wishes to appeal a VTQ result they should refer to the
guidance on their specific Awarding Organisation’s website.

Students can also contact the National Careers Service helpline for advice
and support regarding their results, including for advice on appeals, on
0800 100 900. 

Other enquiries

Thank you for contacting the Department for Education. If you are
contacting us about coronavirus (COVID-19) you can find advice and
guidance on [2]GOV.UK. This includes [3]guidance for educational settings
in England. You can also contact our coronavirus helpline on 0800 046
8687. Lines are open Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm and weekends 10am to
4pm.

For emails and other written enquiries you will usually receive a reply
within 15 working days. You can find out how the department processes your
personal information by reading our [4]Privacy Notice.

References

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https://www.gov.uk/government/collection...
4. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...

Thank you for contacting the Department for Education.

Exam Results

If your enquiry is about 2021 exam results, we will endeavour to get a
response to you as soon as possible.

If your enquiry is related to exam appeals or priority appeals, we
recommend that students should discuss the appeals process with their
school or college in the first instance. JCQ have also published a student
guide to appeals which can be found here:
[1]https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/upload....
If a student wishes to appeal a VTQ result they should refer to the
guidance on their specific Awarding Organisation’s website.

Students can also contact the National Careers Service helpline for advice
and support regarding their results, including for advice on appeals, on
0800 100 900. 

Other enquiries

Thank you for contacting the Department for Education. If you are
contacting us about coronavirus (COVID-19) you can find advice and
guidance on [2]GOV.UK. This includes [3]guidance for educational settings
in England. You can also contact our coronavirus helpline on 0800 046
8687. Lines are open Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm and weekends 10am to
4pm.

For emails and other written enquiries you will usually receive a reply
within 15 working days. You can find out how the department processes your
personal information by reading our [4]Privacy Notice.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/upload...
2. https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
3. https://www.gov.uk/government/collection...
https://www.gov.uk/government/collection...
4. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...

Dear Flo Marks

Thank you for your request for information, which we received on 17
January 2022. You requested:

Is it now compulsory for secondary schools to teach about LGBTQ+ sex,
gender and sexualities as part of an integrated and inclusive curriculum?
How is the Department of Education tracking this?

Where do schools/staff get support from in their delivery of these
subjects?

Is there set/standardised information secondary schools are required to
teach on these topics? If so could you provide what information [and
clarify whether it is guidance or compulsory] is being taught on
heterosexual and same-sex relationships?

I have dealt with your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Is it now compulsory for secondary schools to teach about LGBTQ+ sex,
gender and sexualities as part of an integrated and inclusive curriculum?
How is the Department of Education tracking this?

Schools have a legal obligation to have regard to the RSHE statutory
guidance.  Ofsted’s school inspection handbook sets out that inspectors
will consider the provision for Relationships Education, Relationships and
Sex Education and Health Education as part of a wider judgment of pupils’
personal development.  Ofsted welcomed the Department’s guidance on
relationships, sex, and health education and Ofsted inspectors use it as
their guide for assessing that part of personal development. 

The RSHE [1]statutory guidance states the following:

In teaching Relationships Education and RSE, schools should ensure that
the needs of all pupils are appropriately met, and that all pupils
understand the importance of equality and respect. Schools must ensure
that they comply with the relevant provisions of the Equality Act 2010,
(please see The Equality Act 2010 and schools: Departmental advice), under
which sexual orientation and gender reassignment are amongst the protected
characteristics.

Schools should ensure that all of their teaching is sensitive and age
appropriate in approach and content. At the point at which schools
consider it appropriate to teach their pupils about LGBT, they should
ensure that this content is fully integrated into their programmes of
study for this area of the curriculum rather than delivered as a
stand-alone unit or lesson. Schools are free to determine how they do
this, and we expect all pupils to have been taught LGBT content at a
timely point as part of this area of the curriculum.

For primary pupils, the statutory guidance states that:

Teaching about families requires sensitive and well-judged teaching based
on knowledge of pupils and their circumstances. Families of many forms
provide a nurturing environment for children. (Families can include for
example, single parent families, LGBT parents, families headed by
grandparents, adoptive parents, foster parents/carers amongst other
structures.) Care needs to be taken to ensure that there is no
stigmatisation of children based on their home circumstances and needs, to
reflect sensitively that some children may have a different structure of
support around them; e.g. looked after children or young carers.

For secondary pupils, the statutory guidance states that:

Pupils should be taught the facts and the law about sex, sexuality, sexual
health and gender identity in an age-appropriate and inclusive way. All
pupils should feel that the content is relevant to them and their
developing sexuality. Sexual orientation and gender identity should be
explored at a timely point and in a clear, sensitive and respectful
manner. When teaching about these topics, it must be recognised that young
people may be discovering or understanding their sexual orientation or
gender identity. There should be an equal opportunity to explore the
features of stable and healthy same sex relationships. This should be
integrated appropriately into the RSE programme, rather than addressed
separately or in only one lesson

The non-statutory [2]Plan your relationships, sex and health curriculum -
GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) guidance states that:

All pupils should receive teaching on lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) relationships during their school years. Secondary
schools should include LGBT content in their teaching. Primary schools are
strongly encouraged, and enabled, when teaching about different types of
family, to include families with same sex parents.

The DfE has plans to monitor implementation of RSHE over time. Subject to
successful completion of commercial processes, we intend to undertake a
national survey of school leaders, RSHE leads and RSHE teachers, supported
by qualitative research with school staff and pupils. Any subsequent
research is dependent on the findings. The research will aim to: 

* test whether schools are implementing the requirements with sufficient
quality. 
* understand barriers and facilities to quality implementation, to
inform any further support offers.  
* test and revise the theory of change for how setting this requirement
will improve children's outcomes. 

Where do schools/staff get support from in their delivery of these
subjects?

To help schools implement the new Relationships, Sex and Health Education
curriculum from September 2020, we have created a page for teachers
on [3]GOV.UK, which brings together the statutory guidance which schools
need in order to plan their RSHE curriculum; non-statutory guidance,
designed to provide teachers with further clarity and practical advice on
teaching the new curriculum; and [4]teacher training modules, which aim to
help teachers identify the core knowledge pupils may be taught as part of
RSHE, and to share this through peer training. These have been developed
with subject matter experts and teachers and are inclusive to all pupils.

Is there set/standardised information secondary schools are required to
teach on these topics? If so could you provide what information [and
clarify whether it is guidance or compulsory] is being taught on
heterosexual and same-sex relationships?

The RSHE statutory guidance sets out what content should be taught in each
phase. As with other aspects of the curriculum, schools have flexibility
over how they deliver these subjects, including the resources they use, so
they can develop an integrated approach that is sensitive to the needs and
background of their pupils.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by copyright.
You are free to use it for your own purposes, including for private study
and non-commercial research, and for any other purpose authorised by an
exception in current copyright law. Documents (except photographs) can be
also used in the UK without requiring permission for the purposes of news
reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial publication, would
require the permission of the copyright holder.

Most documents produced by a government department or agency will be
protected by Crown Copyright. Most Crown Copyright information can be
re-used under the Open Government Licence
([5]http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/o...). For
information about the OGL and about re-using Crown Copyright information
please see The National Archives website
-[6]http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/infor...
.

Copyright in other documents may rest with a third party. For information
about obtaining permission from a third party see the Intellectual
Property Office’s website at [7]www.ipo.gov.uk.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference numbers above in any future
communications.

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you should
make a complaint to the Department by writing to me within two calendar
months of the date of this letter.  Your complaint will be considered by
an independent review panel, who were not involved in the original
consideration of your request. 

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint to the
Department, you may then contact the Information Commissioner’s Office. 
 
Yours sincerely

Andrew Taylor
Relationships, Sex, and Health Education and Citizenship Unit

References

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2. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/plan-your-re...
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4. https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.e...
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6. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/infor... blocked::http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/infor...
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/infor...
7. http://www.ipo.gov.uk/