Schools must always show sex education material to every parent who asks, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan warns

• It comes amid fears about ‘woke’ teaching about gender being peddled in school

Schools must always show sex education material to every parent who asks for it, the Education Secretary has warned.

Gillian Keegan has today told teachers there can be ‘no more excuses’ in sharing relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum material with concerned parents.

Schools often claim they cannot do so because of contract terms with their commercial suppliers, but the minister said copyright law should be no barrier to full disclosure.

It comes amid mounting fears that parents are being kept in the dark about explicit sexual imagery or ‘woke’ teaching about gender being peddled in schools.

Ms Keegan said: ‘No ifs, no buts and no more excuses.

Gillian Keegan is expected to tell teachers on Tuesday that there can be ‘no more excuses’ in sharing relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum material with concerned parents

‘This government is acting to guarantee parents’ fundamental right to know what their children are being taught in sex and relationships education.

‘Today I’m writing to schools and parents to debunk the copyright myth that parents cannot see what their children are being taught.

‘Parents must be empowered to ask and schools should have the confidence to share.’

Campaigners have warned that schools are using copyright law imposed by third-party suppliers of the sex education material as an excuse to prevent them sharing it with parents.

The letter makes clear that companies providing teaching resources cannot use copyright as an excuse to forbid schools from sharing materials.

Ms Keegan insisted that if a provider were to attempt to forbid sharing with parents when asked, schools should continue regardless.

It is the second time the Education Secretary has written to school bosses warning them of their obligation to share materials with parents, having done so in March this year.

Tanya Carter, spokesman for Safe Schools Alliance said: ‘We welcome this intervention from Gillian Keegan, however, it is frankly too little, too late.

Schools must always show sex education material to every parent who asks for it, the Education Secretary has warned (Stock Image)

‘We need a public inquiry into how many children have already been harmed by damaging materials.

‘Materials that parents have been denied access to under a culture of secrecy that some schools, in thrall to activists, have been operating in.’

An urgent review of RSHE was ordered by Rishi Sunak earlier this year after claims that children were subjected to graphic lessons on explicit sex acts, ‘how to choke your partner safely’ and how there are 72 genders.

Some pupils have been taught using a ‘toolkit’ that encourages children to roll a dice featuring body parts such as ‘penis’ and ‘hand and fingers’ twice and then discuss the potential sexual acts carried out between them.

The review is being conducted by an independent panel of experts and is due before the end of the year, when parents will be consulted.

It comes amid mounting fears that parents are being kept in the dark about explicit sexual imagery or ‘woke’ teaching about gender being peddled in schools

Jason Elsom, chief executive of Parentkind said: ‘Parentkind welcomes the Department for Education’s timely move to strengthen parental rights in the teaching of RSHE. 

‘The key to children receiving appropriate and beneficial relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) teaching is full transparency with parents.

‘When we polled parents on RSHE earlier this year, a clear picture emerged. Parents wanted to be consulted by schools in advance and agreed that the teaching of the subject was important.

‘Our research clearly demonstrates that when parents are consistently informed about RSHE in advance, they are significantly likelier to have confidence in the curriculum and be supportive of the content. This move should help to reassure parents about the content and provision of RSHE.’

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