Information on the RSHP Guidance Consultation
Information on the Consultation on the draft Statutory Guidance on the Delivery of Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood (RSHP) Education in Scottish Schools and advice on responding
The Scottish Government has released a Consultation on draft Statutory Guidance on the Delivery of Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood (RSHP) Education in Scottish Schools. Members of the public are invited to respond to the consultation by the 23rd of November, 2023.
The Draft Guidance is long, and likely not very accessible to many parents who don’t have knowledge of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), Scottish educational policies or discrimination law. These documents will hopefully offer some assistance for parents or other members of the public that have an interest in responding to the consultation.
Why should I respond to the consultation?
- The content and implications of the guidance will impact every young person in Scottish mainstream schools, not only in specific RSHP lessons but across the whole curriculum.
- Schools and external providers need to comply with the guidance. This gives parents and carers the ability to question or challenge resources that are inconsistent with its advice. This also has implications for external organisations with a Christian character or viewpoint, as they too must ensure that any RSHP work they do in schools follows the guidance.
- It explains the rights of parents and the process of withdrawal from sexuality education, as well as the expectation that parents will be informed of RSHP lesson content.
It may be helpful to start by reading lists of the principles and aims of RSHP, found in the ‘Consultation on draft Statutory Guidance on the Delivery of Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood (RSHP) Education in Scottish Schools’ and then go on to one or more of the documents below to help you better understand the information in the guidance and decide what your response should be.
For those pressed for time, it may be beneficial to read the Guidance Summary to get the gist of what the guidance says, and then focus on particular sections of interest in the guidance itself. This could be read alongside a summarised version of CVE Scotland’s response to the consultation, if you would like an idea of possible responses. Most of the consultation questions ask about the clarity of the guidance, so if there are sections of the guidance that you don’t understand, you should make this clear in your response. I have also produced a summary of the key themes with a more detailed discussion of questions and concerns raised by the guidance.
We have discovered near to submission due date that some of the consultation questions have additional tick-box answers. Please allow sufficient time to read the new questions and if necessary adapt your answers. Question 10 – ‘Are these key learning points sufficiently clear in explaining the requirements for RSHP education?’ has been removed, but this appears as though it is in error. A response to this question could be made in the comment box for ‘Is the guidance sufficiently clear in explaining the requirement for pupils with Additional Support Needs to have RSHP education?’ with a note that it is in response to Question 10.
It would be helpful to include a comment that it should be made clear in the guidance that teachers should ensure that materials used from external sources are consistent with the rest of the guidance, and that provided links are not necessarily endorsed by Education Scotland/Scottish Government.
– A bullet point, condensed version of the guidance that you can read to get the gist of it and then read particular sections of interest in more detail.
Consultation Questions and Summarised Response
– This document shows the text and questions presented in the consultation response, along with a summary of key points that CVE Scotland will be including in its response.
– In a document as long as the new RSHP guidance, it can be difficult to pick out key information, particularly when it is sometimes necessary to reference external sources in order to make sense of it. This document aims to give an overview of key information and themes from the document, while highlighting some concerns and questions raised. It includes the purpose and aims of RSHP, consent and healthy relationships, rights-based education and parental withdrawal, and inclusion.
Suggested Resources for Parents and Church Leaders
– It’s one thing to believe that God has a good plan for human bodies and sexuality. It’s another to be able to articulate it, and to feel comfortable discussing it with children and young people! These are some resources that may help you to get started. These resources are being suggested as they have been found helpful and/or thought-provoking, and do not necessarily reflect the theological convictions of CVE Scotland or its staff.