Schools can no longer use confidentiality and copyright laws to prevent parents from seeing sex education materials being taught to their children. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has written that they “can and should share curriculum materials with parents” when asked to do so.
Keegan did not say, as reported in The Daily Telegraph and The Times, that schools must provide this information. In a letter to school leaders, she merely stated:
Schools should … feel able to share the materials with parents in a proportionate way …
Schools may provide copies of materials to parents …
Curriculum resources can be shared with parents in some way (all emphasis added)
In a separate statement, Keegan insisted that there are to be “no ifs, no buts, and no more excuses,” adding: “Parents must be empowered to ask, and schools should have the confidence to share.”
“Confidence to share” refers to the education secretary’s insistence that the providers of sex education materials cannot keep these from parents because of copyright laws. Some educational leaders have responded that schools are already sharing this material upon request, despite cases of parents being denied access.
Keegan’s comments have shed no light on the possible repercussions for schools that believe they should not comply with the requests of parents, regardless of copyright rules.
Campaigners see the declaration that schools are within their rights to ignore the confidentiality demands of sex education material providers as a step forward, even if more progress is required. Molly Kingsley of child advocacy group UsForThem told The European Conservative:
It is almost disconcerting to see such strong, sensible guidance from Keegan and the Department for Education. It must now be matched by a pledge to get all inappropriate (non-fact-based) materials out of the classroom, where they never should have been in the first place.
In the face of heavy criticism, the Conservative Party has recently begun talking tough about the rapid expansion of sex education. But it is this very same party that made it compulsory in 2020. Former Tory leader Theresa May described this in PinkNews as a “historic step forward,” suggesting that opponents to the move should be disregarded when setting aside those “who come together united in a cause and belief [which] can change the world.” Long before her time, Tory hero and then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was accused by the Responsible Society of “sheer folly” for supporting the expansion of sex education, thus introducing children to “amoral” material that was “subversive of the family.”
Just a day after Keegan contacted schools, reports suggested parents could still face legal troubles when requesting to see the material being presented to their children.