Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has backed new non-statutory sex education guidance which encourages children as young as eleven to discuss pornography.
Morgan supported the guidance alongside Home Secretary Theresa May, describing it as “excellent”.
It was also revealed earlier this month that Morgan has become the co-President of a ‘liberal conservative’ think-tank.
Vulnerable
The new guidelines, produced with funding from the Department for Education, were criticised for being likely to emotionally damage children.
Margaret Morrissey, of campaign group Parents Outloud, said: “We are bringing up a generation of children who are having their childhood constantly eroded.”
Chris McGovern, Chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, also criticised the guidance saying: “It’s very dangerous and it’s taking children at a fairly vulnerable age into territory which is likely to traumatise and emotionally disturb them.”
Noting the discussion topics on pornography, McGovern added: “It’s basically a free advertisement for the porn industry. If the makers of pornographic films were to do this, it would be condemned as corrupting a generation of children.”
Stonewall
The PSHE Association produced the guidance, which includes lesson ideas for teachers to use with pupils aged between eleven and 16 – Key Stages 3 and 4.
The Association assumes teaching about sexual orientation and transsexualism is “already an integral part of the school’s sex and relationships education programme”, and strongly recommends resources from homosexual lobby group Stonewall.
Local authority-run state secondary schools must offer sex and relationships education, but free schools, academies and all primary schools are not required to do so.
Parents
In the guidance, a lesson aimed at “understanding consent relating to sexual images” includes discussion on pornography and sending explicit text messages.
It suggests one activity which assumes the children have already seen pornography, saying students should “discuss and list the misconceptions about consent” learned from pornography.
The guidance seeks to ensure that pupils understand, “that pornography does not always reflect good examples of consensual situations”.
It does, however, support consultation with parents, stating that collaboration between home and school is vital.
Same-sex marriage
Nicky Morgan and Theresa May said the guidance is “relevant to young people, and can help to empower them in their daily lives”, adding: “We are confident that teachers will welcome this excellent resource”.
Morgan recently became co-President of Bright Blue, a think-tank which supports same-sex marriage, weaker drugs laws and ’21st century sex education’.
The group describes itself as “the independent think tank and pressure group for liberal conservatives and home of Conservative modernisers”.
It commented that Morgan would “not necessarily endorse every policy position of Bright Blue, but she does believe in the organisation’s underlying vision and principles”.