Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief inspector, was quizzed by MPs for the second time in a fortnight over concerns about the inspection service among religious groups.
After appearing before the public accounts committee last month, she was challenged by an MP whose constituents include a large Charedi community at the end of an education committee session on Tuesday.
Ian Mearns, Labour MP for Gateshead, raised the concerns of Strictly Orthodox parents about the teaching of relationships and sex education.
Highlighting particular worries about the teaching of LGBT issues in primary schools, he quoted one parental view: “I don’t want my child learning about transgender at an age when they still believe in the tooth fairy.”
Mrs Spielman acknowledged that children were expected to learn about LGBT issues, stating: “The expectation is, in an age appropriate way, that children should be aware of the protected characteristics”.
Protected characteristics refer to groups protected under the Equality Act and include same-sex orientation and gender reassignment.
Mr Mearns also asked whether “the teaching of LGBT will be considered a required element of religious education but heterosexual relationships will be part of sex education. And that will mean, as the case today, parents will have the right to opt a child out of a lesson regarding heterosexual relationships, but not the LGBT element within primary schools?”
While Mrs Spielman did not answer it directly, she emphasised it was equality law and guidance from the Department for Education that determined what schools should do - not Ofsted.
The DfE is due to publish guidelines on RSE shortly following a consultation last year.
When the committee’s chairman Robert Halfon suggested it was in only the last couple of years since Mrs Spielman had become chief inspector that faith groups had “significant worries”, she replied that these went way back but people now might be more vocal.
The law had also been “hugely strengthened”, she added. “There is much more explicit expectation now about what is considered to be necessary preparation for life in modern Britain.”
