The PSHE Association welcomes strong cross party support for the subject in the House or Lords debate on PSHE education on 24th April.
Baroness Doreen Massey led the debate and there were over 15 speakers from across the political spectrum, covering issues from emergency first aid to the impact of online pornography, as well as the crucial role PSHE can play in preparing children for life in a rapidly changing world.
High-quality PSHE education binds these diverse issues together by supporting children to develop the tools they need to make good decisions - such as managing emotions and analysing risk - and is most effective when delivered in a regular timetable slot by teachers who are trained in, and comfortable with, the subject area – an issue many of the speakers in the debate addressed in their contributions.
In this respect the PSHE Association’s Chartered Teacher programme was cited as a good way for PSHE teachers to evidence their professional practice and one of our first Chartered Schools, Goose Green primary, was highlighted as having used PSHE to come out of special measures and move towards outstanding provision according to Ofsted.
We were heartened to hear support from peers for some of the key points we have made in our response to the consultation on changes to the national curriculum, particularly relating to the status of PSHE as a subject vital to helping schools to achieve their statutory obligations, and regarding changes to the science curriculum which we believe plays a critical role in supporting high-quality PSHE education.
We were also pleased to hear Lord Nash respond for the Department for Education by saying that PSHE is "a vital part of a broad and balanced curriculum" and we hope to see this link reflected in the final version of the national curriculum.
For those interested in the status of PSHE education, we have developed a new briefing paper which provides detail of how PSHE teaching underpins obligations on schools and ensures schools perform well in Ofsted inspections.
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