Family & Education
Government underlines commitment to teaching LGBT issues, despite Charedi concern
Children should learn about families with two mummies or two daddies, says schools minister
March 21, 2019 10:44
Children should learn about families with two mummies or two daddies, says schools minister
March 21, 2019 10:44Schools should teach children about families with same-sex parents at some stage, the government insisted on Wednesday in a parliamentary debate on the proposed new relationships and sex education (RSE) curriculum.
However, MPs postponed a vote on whether to approve the official guidelines for RSE.
The proposals have caused deep consternation within the Charedi community, which does not want schools to be forced to teach children about LGBT issues.
But the School Standards Minister Nick Gibb told the MPs the guidelines were “very clear” about their importance.
Mr Gibb explained schools would have discretion over when to teach “some of the more sensitive subjects”.
But he added, “The compulsion is to ensure that those issues are covered at some point during the children’s education, but when that happens will be a matter for schools to decide. Schools also have to take into account the faith backgrounds of the pupils and their parents.”
Mr Gibb also said: “One of the key elements of relationships education is ensuring that children are aware, including in primary schools, that loving families can be made up of two mothers, two fathers or one mother and one father.
“Children are being taught that other family structures are just as loving and caring as their own.”
While relationships education will be compulsory, sex education will be optional for primary schools and parents will retain the right of withdrawing children from it. Schools must also consult with parents over what is taught.
Some within the Charedi community believe if LGBT issues were classified as sex, rather than relationships, education, their children could effectively avoid it.
Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner said she hoped the government would address concerns within the strictly Orthodox Jewish community over the curriculum and the inspection service Ofsted.
But she stressed, “We must be clear that there can be no opting out of the Equality Act 2010 and that all schools must teach the law on these issues so that pupils understand it.”
The act covers discrimination against people on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender reassignment.
Stephen Timms, the Labour MP for East Ham, raised the problems that Charedi schools are already having with Ofsted over equality issues.
“Voices in the community say that if this continues, Orthodox Jewish families will either home-school en masse, which they are fully entitled to do, or conclude that the UK is no longer a country where they are welcome,” he said.
“Charedi schools, the fastest growing, will not breach deeply held religious convictions and they should not have to, because religion or belief is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.
“Nobody wants Orthodox Jewish families to feel that they have to leave the country, but something has to give.”
Matthew Offord, the Conservative MP for Hendon, the constituency with one of the largest Jewish populations, said many of his constituents did not go along with the guidelines and there was a “great deal of concern” among Muslims and Christians.
But some MPs want the government to beef up the regulations to require LGBT issues to be covered at primary age. James Frith, the Labour MP for Bury North, said, “Teaching about LGBT families as part of teaching about different families at primary age is vital to ensure that young people with LGBT parents see their families reflected in teaching.”
