Calling for teaching about respect, sexual consent and to end violence in relationships.

On 28 January, the House of Lords will vote on making sex and relationship education (SRE) compulsory in English schools.

They will be debating proposals to changes to the Children and Families Bill which would make sure all schools are required to teach sex and relationship education, as well as updating the guidance for an online generation.

This will include teaching about zero tolerance of violence in relationships and the importance of respect and sexual consent.

Figures show that violence in teenage relationships is increasing, and so, logically, education is one key way not only to protect young people, but to prevent violence against women too.

But according to campaign groups, schools are not required to teach SRE at all. They are required to have a policy, but their policy could be not to teach it.

And according to results of a Brooksurvey, one in four (26 per cent) of secondary school pupils gets no SRE in school at all.

Another quarter (26 per cent) of those who do get SRE say the teacher is not able to teach it well.

That means half of young people aren’t getting a good SRE education.

Very few young people – just 13 per cent – said they learned the most about sex from their SRE teacher. Even fewer – 7 per cent said they learn about it from both of their parents.

The largest number – 36 per cent – said they learn from friends their own age.

Other common sources of information about sex and relationships include boyfriends and girlfriends (10 per cent), TV programmes (8 per cent) and online porn (5 per cent). None of which are reliable sources of honest, useful information.

So, in the UK today, SRE teaching varies widely, with no consistent standards.

Teachers are often not given any special training or preparation in the subject.

And young people say they don’t learn enough about emotions and relationships – and a survey showed that 80 per cent of young people said they had no voice in what they learn about sex and relationships.

And the classes can be infrequent or even – in many cases – nonexistent.

Brook believes that every young person in Britain deserves sex and relationships education (SRE) that is relevant to them, focuses on relationships as well as sex, honest about human sexuality and taught by professionals who are well prepared and confident.

This week House of Lords will vote on making sex and relationship education compulsory in English schools.

The government is opposing the changes campaigners have been calling for, and will try to block them – again.

Please help.

Please show your support for better sex and relationship education.

We need to take action now to stop tolerance of violence in and to teach respect in relationships.

Please sign our petition today, and demand  Sex and Relationships Education fit for the 21st century.