PSHE news digest 26-30 October | www.pshe-association.org.uk

The female genital mutilation (FGM) mandatory reporting duty has come into force as of 31 October 2015. Guidance for teachers and other professionals is available here

Education Select Committee Chair, Neil Carmichael, has written for PinkNews on why the Department for Education must urgently act on their recommendations on statutory PSHE. He writes, “[the Department for Education] should take another urgent look at these questions and at our report – and then, without delay, it should start acting on our recommendations.” Read his article here

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has released a report on inequalities in Britain. Findings include higher levels of LGBT and disability-related bullying, and growing achievement gaps for White boys, children with SEN, poorer children and children in care. Read the report here

Highlights from Ofcom's Media Lives research, exploring children's use of technology, understanding of online safety issues, family dynamics around technology and understanding of advertising, have been summarised on the UK Safer Internet Centre website here
Insights include:

• Children of all ages found it easiest to think of physical dangers that might come from being online, like being stalked or kidnapped, rather than issues around cyberbullying or sharing images they might regret later.
• The children did not always apply safety messages consistently in different contexts. While they could all repeat the safety messages they had learned, they did not always apply them consistently, or across different platforms or services.

The British Youth Council have released further details of their consultation of young people’s key priorities for debate in the UK Youth Parliament session in November. A curriculum for life was voted the 2nd priority with almost 132,000 votes from young people across the UK. Read the article here

Disclaimer: The above does not reflect the views of the PSHE Association. We cannot guarantee the accuracy or quality of the external sites linked here.