new curriculum news.

The Department for Education has today issued the outcomes of its personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education review.

In an accompanying statement Education Minister Elizabeth Truss said that PSHE “remains an important and necessary part of all pupils’ education” and that the DfE believes “all schools should teach PSHE, drawing on good practice”. She did however go on to stress that PSHE education overall would remain a non-statutory subject and that no new standardised frameworks or programmes of study would be provided for schools.

Statutory entitlement to PSHE

NOT Statutory however, all schools have a statutory duty to provide a curriculum that is broadly based, balanced, meets the needs of all pupils and:

Promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society, and Prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.

The pshe association state...We believe that schools’ ability to meet these obligations can only be fulfilled if a comprehensive PSHE programme is in place and we will continue to make the case for this to be acknowledged in the national curriculum framework.

Ofsted

Even though PSHE is not statutory, it is worth noting that whole school (Section 5) Ofsted inspections take into account whether a school provides its pupils with a ‘broad and balanced curriculum that promotes their good behaviour and safety and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development’.

Ofsted recognises that PSHE education makes ‘an outstanding and sustained contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development’ so when looking for evidence of SMSC it is likely to observe the PSHE provision in a school. Similarly, teaching about safety and relationships as part of PSHE education contributes to how schools approach safeguarding by equipping pupils with the skills to recognise when they and others are at risk and the skills, strategies and language they need to take appropriate action. PSHE education also provides schools with the ideal context in which to focus on Ofsted priorities such as preventing bullying, addressing homophobia and all forms of prejudice, including the use of prejudice-based language.

It is also important to note that if PSHE lessons are observed as part of a general school inspection that Ofsted will expect the same standards of teaching and learning as they would in any other subject. Poor PSHE education lessons can therefore affect a school’s overall judgment for quality of teaching.

Programmes of study

Today’s PSHE review states that there will be no new standardised frameworks or programmes of study. We will however be working with our partners in the sector to produce guidance to schools on developing their programmes of study and will provide further details on this very shortly. This will be a top priority for us in the coming weeks.

From the PSHE Association