Caving to pressure from campaigners for better sex education, the new curriculum for GCSE science will include lessons on sexual health and STIs. As rates of infection rise among Britain’s young people, we ask: will the new curriculum go any way to reducing risky behaviour?
The new curriculum for Key Stage 4 science is to include the teaching of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) which will inform students about the causes and symptoms of Chlamydia, Herpes, HIV, AIDS, Gonorrhoea, Genital Warts, Thrush, Hepatitis and Syphilis, with the goal of both educating about and dispelling the preconceptions surrounding these diseases.
The move follows a government consultation, which raised the concern that pupils were not being properly taught sex education, especially health issues, such as sexually transmitted diseases.