Religion, Education and Values – serie

Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) is an issue surrounded by controversy and debate, with important implications for the interconnected roles of the state, the school and the home and for the way we understand ourselves, our sexual identity and our personal relationships.

This book charts the development of the moral and spiritual narrative in RSE policy in England. In particular, it expounds and critiques the popular moral narrative of informed choice: an approach which advocates providing young people with the maximum amount of information around their sexual choices and defends a view of sexual morality which holds that anything goes, as long as it is in private, between consenting adults and harms no-one else.

Alongside a comprehensive critique of this narrative, the book offers a unique contribution to the ongoing development of the moral and spiritual framework of RSE by presenting a Christian vision of a sexually and relationally educated young person. In particular, this enriched vision explores the cultivation of the virtues of Christian love and chastity.

The findings presented here are highly significant for anyone concerned with developing and delivering RSE within a robust moral framework.

This book examines the law and policy governing school acts of collective worship in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, and their equivalent in Scotland, which is known as religious observance. It aims to shine a light on an important issue that has often been neglected and ignored by policy-makers.