Parents were not allowed to view Sex-Education material delivered in schools by external organizations

Country: United Kingdom

Date of incident: October 15, 2022


The Christian Institute has reported that parents of children at Hatcham College were denied access to see the Sex-Education lesson slides used by an external NGO. The parents requested access to the slides by the School of Sexuality Education (SoSE), but the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) denied their request, stating it would compromise the sex education provider’s “intellectual property”. This, nevertheless, undermines parental rights, as the parents are not able to raise concern over material being taught to their children that might go against their beliefs.

The "School of Sexuality Education", is an NGO formerly known as Sexplain. It is known for delivering explicit sex education in schools, and according to The Telegraph, they have told 12-year-old children that ‘heterosexuality as the norm’ is a “harmful” idea.

Still, earlier this year, Education Minister Baroness Barran had commented that commercial interests “should not be a barrier” to schools openly sharing Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) materials with concerned parents.

In response to the situation at Hatcham College, a spokesman from the Department of Education clarified that “Schools are legally required to engage with parents on the teaching of relationships, sex and health education."

He continued: “We are writing to all schools this term to emphasise this and to make it clear that if a parent requests to see teaching materials, copyright law does not prevent a school from sharing them with parents in person on the school premises.”

Source: christian.org.ukTelegraphChristian.UKThe Times

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