PSHE Association disappointed with amendment defeat

We were disappointed but unsurprised to see that the Opposition amendment to the Children and Families Bill, which would have made PSHE education a statutory part of the national curriculum, was defeated in the Commons yesterday evening. With the debate now set to continue into the House of Lords, it is worth reflecting on why this is so important.

The national status of the subject has a direct impact in the classroom: because PSHE is not a statutory subject, it is not part of the initial training most teachers receive, leaving them to cover a diverse and complex subject without the grounding they receive in statutory subjects. Furthermore, non-statutory status means there is in effect a disincentive for headteachers to give curriculum time to PSHE education when there are many statutory subjects on which they know they will be judged competing for timetable space. As a non-statutory, non-examined subject, PSHE education can easily fall down the list of school priorities but a statutory entitlement would ensure that this did not happen.

It is also worth reflecting for a moment on the arguments opponents to making PSHE statutory made in Parliament yesterday, and in particular the concerns raised about politicians taking responsibility away from Heads, teachers, parents and communities from determining what is best for their children. While we understand these concerns, we do not share them; in fact we believe in giving greater responsibility to pupils, parents and community members over what PSHE programme best suits their specific needs. PSHE education has to be relevant to pupils' lives otherwise it will be ineffective; it deals with many sensitive issues, so it is right that parents and communities have their say; and we absolutely agree that Heads should have the flexibility to determine their own timetables. A statutory entitlement would not change any of this, but would create a level playing-field between PSHE and other subjects in relation to time in the curriculum, teacher training and accountability, something we do not have at the moment.

We will continue to fight for that level playing field but there is much that we can do in the meantime, both as an organisation and in collaboration with colleagues in the our sector, to raise standards in PSHE education. In particular, we need to take responsibility for building better relationships with schools across the country and helping them to integrate quality PSHE education into their busy timetables. This would be a crucial task even with a statutory entitlement, and with schools starting to plan for the new national curriculum in 2014, time is of the essence.

Trying to build relationships with well over 20,000 schools while at the same time making the case for a statutory entitlement at a national level is a huge challenge for our sector, but if we believe that PSHE education is something every pupil deserves, then it is what we must do.