HC Deb 03 May 1994 vol 242 cc576-8
4. Mr. David Atkinson

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what is his policy on the teaching of parenthood and good housekeeping.

The Secretary of State for Education (Mr. John Patten)

Schools should reinforce parents in preparing pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life. Those are important topics. Aspects of them are included in some national curriculum subjects and in sex education. Schools may also cover them in other programmes such as personal and social education.

Mr. Atkinson

Is my right hon. Friend aware of the growing concern among primary school teachers that they are increasingly experiencing difficulty in the classroom in coping with the products of bad parenthood and bad housekeeping? In the context of my right hon. Friend's reply, can he assure me that the new revised national curriculum for secondary schools addresses that situation?

Mr. Patten

The national curriculum—for example, in science education—already looks at exactly that. One of the main aims of the revised national curriculum, details of which will be announced in a week or 10 days, is more time for teachers—up to about 20 per cent. a week more—to devote to personal and social education. It is wrong to try to load too much on the shoulders of teachers when the burden should rightly lie on the shoulders of parents.

Ms Eagle

Does the Secretary of State agree that part of the teaching of good parenthood is good sex education? Can he explain the extraordinary implications of his view that children should be streamed for sex education? How does he propose that teachers should put individual pupils into different streams? Has he never heard of what goes on behind the bicycle shed?

Mr. Patten

Those stories are without foundation. I am sure that from time to time all hon. Members read stories that deserve to be taken outside to the yard and shot. That story needs to be taken outside and put in front of a firing squad.

Mr. Harry Greenway

Does my right hon. Friend agree that what goes on behind the bicycle shed is nothing new and that personal relationships and good housekeeping are best taught at the age of about 13 and 14? Does he further agree that sex education is not assisted when pupils are taught how to have sex as a means of discouraging them from having it? That false argument has been advanced by the Brooke Advisory Centres and others for too long and they have got away with it.

Mr. Patten

Bicycle sheds may be matters for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport, but the second part of my hon. Friend's question is certainly for me. We wish to see good, sensible sex education that is taught with sensitivity by hard-working teachers. I am grateful to teachers for the way in which they carry out that task. The House will shortly have a chance to see the guidelines when they are published in the circular and will see that much of the speculation which seems to have run riot in the short, silly season that we have just had in the national media is completely without foundation.

Mrs. Ann Taylor

Has the Secretary of State studied the evidence from other European countries which clearly shows that if our children are given good-quality sex education that is appropriate to their age and understanding, it is likely to help them in the long term, and will help them to avoid teenage pregnancies and early sexual activity? Why is the Secretary of State fanning silly season stories by ridiculous comments which ignore all the evidence?

Mr. Patten

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and I have been working closely together on those issues for some months and the results will be seen when the circular is published. After all, the draft circular has been out for some months. It is important for me to tell the House, in answer to the hon. Lady's question, that we had about 400 responses to the draft sex education circular and, almost without exception, every respondent welcomed the fact that it set sex education in a firm framework of family values.

Dr. Spink

Will my right hon. Friend confirm the value of schools teaching today's youngsters that the prime responsibility for the education of children lies with their parents and not with the state, because today's parents have forgotten that fact?

Mr. Patten

I agree entirely. The prime responsibility for bringing up children lies with the parents of those children throughout their childhood.