Parents Home Schooling Children to Avoid ‘Inappropriate Sex Education’: MP

James Laurie, aged 8, is assisted in his online work by his mother Laurette as he continues home schooling, in London, on Jan, 25, 2021. Leon Neal/Getty Images

Parents are turning to home education because they fear their children are being exposed to information about adult sexual acts in schools, according to an MP.

On Monday, MP Andrea Jenkyns told Parliament that she has heard from parents in her Morley and Outwood constituency in Yorkshire “who feel they’ve got no choice but to educate their children” because some schools are “exposing infant children to information about adult sexual acts.”

“As legislators and as parents we have a duty to protect the innocence of our children,” she added.

The MP was discussing petitions that received more than 35,000 signatures, which stated, “Do not impose any new requirements on parents who are home-educating” and “Do not require parents to register home-educated children with local authorities.”

“Does my honourable friend agree that, as legislators and as parents, we have a duty to protect the innocence of our children, and that this debate should reflect the reasons why parents are choosing to home school their children?” she asked the Conservative MP Nick Fletcher.

External Providers

Last year, British MPs discussed how materials are being brought into schools by external providers who are exposing children to “deeply inappropriate, wildly inaccurate, sexually explicit, and damaging materials” in the name of sex education.

The government chose to make the teaching of relationships, sex, and health education (RSHE) compulsory in all secondary schools from September 2020.

Tory MP Miriam Cates has highlighted that the RSHE framework has opened the “floodgates to a whole host of external providers who offer sex education materials to schools.”

She has shown that organisations produced games encouraging children to discuss explicit sexual acts, supplied material with violent sexual acts, and also introduced 6 and 7-year-olds to “rules about touching yourself” in the name of sex education.

Earlier in March, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he asked the Department for Education to “ensure that schools are not teaching inappropriate or contested content” in RSHE.

“Our priority should always be the safety and wellbeing of children and schools should also make curriculum content and materials available to parents,” he said.

“As a result of all of this, we are bringing forward a review of RSHE statutory guidance and we will start our consultation as soon as possible,” added Sunak.

Britain's then-Education Secretary Gavin Williamson speaks during a virtual press conference inside 10 Downing Street in central London on Feb. 24, 2021. John Sibley/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Home Education Register

During Monday’s debate, MPs said that the trend in home education that was found pre-COVID-19 was continuing.

About 1.1 percent of children are currently home schooled in England, Fletcher said.

The total number of children receiving home education in the United States soared to 3.7 million during the 2020–2021 academic cycle. Public schools across the United States have faced considerable backlash over introducing critical race theory and transgender initiatives into curriculums.

Last December, the UK’s Schools Bill was axed in its current form, but the government said that “priority” proposals like a home education register are still being pursued. This would create a national register that would track all children, including those not attending mainstream schools.

Conservative former education minister Gavin Williamson said that “the underlying issue is that we should be concerned about a number of children who are being labelled as home schooled but not actually getting any schooling at all.”

“Is a register not just a proportionate measure that could help to make sure that all children get the type of education we really want, while still protecting the rights of parents to home school their children?” he added.

Labour’s Marie Rimmer added that “local authorities cannot be left in the dark; there must be a register to assist them to ensure that all children are receiving a good education and being looked after.”

Minister of State for Schools Nick Gibb said, “Our commitment to registers of children not in school will not affect parents’ right to educate in a way they deem appropriate, provided that it is suitable.”

Fundamental Change

Fletcher said that the register would change the relationship between parents, children, and the government.

He said that he had spoken to home educating parents who were concerned that “the law puts the responsibility to educate children on parents, and they can choose to opt in to schooling if they wish.”

The parents, he said, believe that “a register would be more like an opt-out system and could end up making school attendance mandatory.”

Another said that they believe that “the implementation of a register would be the first step to more oversight of parents who home educate.”

“I can see their point: it would be a fundamental change in the relationship between the state, parents, and children,” added Fletcher.

A Department for Education spokesperson told The Epoch Times by email: “The education secretary has been clear she is very concerned about reports of inappropriate materials being used to teach relationships and sex education, and has brought forward a review of the curriculum as a result.

“Schools must make sure all content they use is factual and age-appropriate and should engage with parents so they are aware of what their children are being taught.

“We are clear that parents have a right to view teaching materials and copyright law does not prevent a parent from viewing external resources.”