Ed Balls confirmed today that personal, social, health and economic education, including sex and relationships, will be made compulsory in schools from September 2011.
Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, said: “Sex and relationship education is a very important element and we see it as crucial to our drive to reduce teenage pregnancy.”
According to The Times, the move is in response to a year long review of sex education which found that 40 per cent of pupils are dissatisfied with the quality of teaching provided by schools on the issue.
From 2011, pupils as young as seven will learn about puberty while five-year-olds will be taught about parts of the body, relationships and the effects of drugs on the body.
Once they reach secondary school, pupils will learn about contraception, HIV and AIDS, pregnancy and different kinds of relationships - including same sex unions and civil partnerships.
But schools will be allowed to teach the subject “in line with the context, values and ethos of the school”.
Deborah Jack, Chief Executive of National AIDS Trust, has welcomed the news. She told PinkPaper.com: “We welcome the Government’s announcement that personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE education) will be made compulsory in schools. STIs, including HIV, are on the rise among young people. All young people have the right to appropriate sex and relationships education that will give them the information they need to protect their sexual health.
"We are pleased that discussion of same sex relationships and HIV is included in the PSHE education programme of study. HIV is a serious long-term condition and young gay men remain the group of young people most at risk. In the past young gay men have often been ignored in sex and relationships lessons in schools and the result has been a rise in young gay men being diagnosed with HIV.”