The National Institute for Clinical Excellence–whose main role is to ration NHS drugs – is to write to every primary school telling it to start sex education when pupils are five. It will tell teachers that children should not be taught to say no to sex – but should learn about the value of "mutually rewarding sexual relationships"。
The 74-page document was produced on NICE's own initiative after it convened a panel of public health officials and representatives from family planning groups to produce guidance on reducing teenage pregnancy. NICE says that public health is part of its core remit and that cutting teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease would save the NHS money。
Sex education is not compulsory in English schools–and even where it is taught, parents have the right to take their children out of lessons. At present, the only part of sex education that is compulsory is the science element–the human reproductive system and how babies are made。
This is taught at secondary school. Guidance from the Department for Education suggests that from the ages of five to seven, children should learn the names of parts of the body, how people change as they get older, the difference between right and wrong, and that friends and family should care for one another。
Schools do not have to follow the sex education document–but it is the first ever comprehensive guide to what children should be taught produced by a Government department。
Recommendations from NICE include teaching children how to put a condom on and that excessive drinking can lead to sex. It advises schools to use social networking websites to get the sex message across and calls on teachers to offer children confidential sex advice if they need it–without their parents being told。
The report concludes that sex and relationships education is "more effective if it is introduced before young people first have sex". It says sex education – including information about sexually-transmitted infections, methods of contraception, pregnancy and abortion – can help children and teens delay sex until they are ready. "It does not cause them to have sex at an earlier age, or to have more sex, or sex with more partners, and nor does it increase the number of unwanted or teenage conceptions and abortions," the guidance says。
英國政府醫療監管機構昨日稱，性教育需從五歲的娃娃抓起，頓時引起軒然大波。
英國國家臨床醫學技術研究院向來負責全國藥物的配給，此次卻開始著手一項讓每一所小學都開設性教育的草案，而草案寫著：性教育的起始年齡為五歲。據悉，該草案規定，讓學生對性說“不”并不是教師的正確教育方法，教師真正要做的是讓學生了解“相互有利的性關系”的價值。
該份長達74頁的草案是研究院為了減少青少年懷孕而召集公共健康部門官員以及計劃生育組織代表之后起草的。研究院稱，公共健康領域是其核心職責，而減少青少年懷孕、防止性傳播疾病，可以節約國民健康保險支出。
此前，英國學校的性教育可有可無——在實施性教育的學校里，父母有權不讓孩子上性教育的相關課程。學生們被強制學習性知識是在學習自然科學的時候——人類生殖系統以及如何繁衍后代。學習這些知識是在中學階段。而教育部則建議，兒童早在5歲至7歲這個階段，就應該了解身體部位的名稱，隨年齡增長身體的發育狀況，做什么是可以的什么是不可以的，以及朋友和家人之間應該互相關愛。
對于該草案，學校或許不必一定照做——但是該草案是有政府部分頒布的關于給學生教什么的最綜合全面的草案。草案中不僅寫明了要教學生如何使用安全套，還稱過度飲酒可能導致性行為。草案還建議學校應該使用社交網站傳播性知識，并號召教師們在學生需要的時候秘密給予性行為指導，且不讓孩子父母知道。
報告結尾稱，“如果年輕人在第一次發生性行為前”就接受了性教育“效果會更好”。報告還稱，性傳播疾病、避孕措施、懷孕與墮胎等知識可以幫助青少年延遲發生性行為。“該草案并不會讓青少年過早發生性行為、也不會讓他們與多個伴侶發生頻繁性行為，更不會讓青少年懷孕和墮胎數目增加，”草案稱。
