§ Lord Hanningfieldasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their response to the conclusion of the Ofsted report of 25 January that "Personal, social and health education (is) still poor in many secondary schools and non-existent in others"; and what action they intend to take to rectify the problem. [HL986]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Lord Filkin)Schools must teach the statutory elements of the national curriculum on sex and relationships as well as drug, alcohol and tobacco education. We are encouraging schools to use the non-statutory framework for PSHE to deliver these statutory and other non-statutory elements of the curriculum. Guidance to schools on drug education and sex and relationship education makes clear the expectation that these statutory entitlements should be delivered through PSHE provision.
We recognise there is a need for professional development opportunities for teachers of PSHE and to support teacher assessment in the subject. We have therefore introduced the PSHE certificate for teachers this year. Around 2,000 teachers in 2004–05 and a further 3,000 teachers in 2005–06 will benefit. We have also recently produced a new DVD resource for teachers, "PSHE into Practice", which will support teachers' professional development in PSHE. We are working with the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority to develop end of key stage statements to help teachers assess pupil progress in PSHE. These measures will help to improve the quality of PSHE teaching.