The fatal flaw in the system is that OFSTED is not independent of Government. It acts to implement the policy of the DfES (Department for Education and Science). A policy that is introduced can be made part of the focus of a school inspection. The results of the inspection are published on the internet and therefore routinely blown up in the local newspapers. Therefore if a school decides to go against the policy of the DfES, it risks being classed as "requires significant improvement" or "requires special measures". These are the worst judgements that can be made but a school can still suffer greatly even if areas of its provision are judged to be "adequate" rather than "good". A good OFSTED report is essential if a school is to recruit pupils actively. Areas judged to be "inadequate" or merely "adequate" can be highlighted by anyone with an axe to grind.
In a disturbing but entirely predictable development, OFSTED has now begun to turn the screw on the provision of Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE). A recent report entitled Time for change? Personal, social and health education has some disturbing indications amid the soporific language of bureaucratic policy.
We find a determined opposition to any deviation from the "informed choices" (=values clarification) and "safe sex" (=wear a condom) message:
Just as with drugs, young people need to be equipped to make informed choices about relationships and to be able to resist pressures to have sex, but a minority response to Ofsted’s last report on SRE was a call to consider introducing ‘abstinence-only’ programmes as the only option for unmarried people of any age. There is no evidence, however, that ‘abstinence only’ education reduces teenage pregnancy or improves sexual health. There is also no evidence to support claims that teaching about contraception leads to increased sexual activity. Research suggests that education and strategies that promote abstinence but withhold information about contraception can place young people at a higher risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). (n.14)Were OFSTED to put this on Wikipedia, the "research suggests" phrase would be flagged up immediately as an unsupported assertion. A quick search on the internet would show anyone who was interested that there is considerable debate on the findings of various research projects into abstinence education and condom promotion. To use OFSTED-speak, the "outcomes" of sex education in Britain have not exactly been encouraging. We have the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe and a the incidence of STIs is spiralling out of control. (See England stats on STIs)
As for there being "no evidence" that abstinence education works, try this from Georgia, or this from the US Department of Health and Human Services or this from the UK Family Education Trust. For a discussion of the statistics, see Stats.org from the George Mason University - or indeed, have a browse around and see for yourself how breathtakingly partisan the purportedly independent OFSTED is.
The school nurse is an important figure in implementing OFSTED's concern for the "sexual health" of the nation's children:
Along with the PSHE coordinator, school nurses can arrange visits from their colleagues in the community and work with them to promote health and improve young people’s access to health services.(n.19)We are left in no doubt about what is considered as promoting "health":
School nurses can also provide a valuable service, particularly in terms of providing emergency hormonal contraception and advising on other forms of contraception. Progress towards establishing such centres has been modest, but many extended schools are now providing a good range of services.Notice how they are careful to avoid mentioning abortion. In fact, part of the overall provision of "sexual health" in this situation is to make sure that young girls can have an abortion secretly without their parents being informed.
But then, parents are stupid. We know that, because "Young people report that many parents and teachers are not very good at talking to them about sensitive issues, such as sexuality." Never fear: help is at hand... from teenage magazines:
...the ‘problem pages’ in magazines remain a very positive source of advice and reassurance for many young people... always provided you can keep the stupid parents out of the way:
As well as failing to provide the information themselves, some parents express concern about the suitability of information that young people receive from other sources, such as magazines, even when these could be useful. For example, the increase in the number of magazines aimed at young men, while at times reinforcing sexist attitudes, has helped to redress the balance of advice available to young people. (n.21)The Daily Telegraph (Ofsted praises teen mags for teaching sex) has a useful summary of some of the magazines OFSTED is talking about.
The sort of thing about which the stupid parents might express their concern would perhaps be the Cosmo Girl's "step by step guide to getting a condom on your boyfriend's penis."
Notice how OFSTED is rather torn between the sex-ed imperative and political correctness when it comes to the lad mags. Perhaps they are thinking of the "Nuts" magazine offer of "real girls stripping to their undies" or Zoo magazine's "sexiest new girls this nation has to offer".
It is good that the Telegraph has headlined the most outrageous recommendation of this Government enforcement agency but I believe that the underlying message is more sinister. The paper is entitled "Time for change?" The message is clear: schools will have to put this kind of sex education in place if they are to get good marks for their response to the "Every Child Matters" agenda. Having defined what "sexual health" is, schools are open to public shame if they fail to comply in providing it. Nobody will put this in terms of the school's failing to teach children how to put on a condom, or slacking on the provision of secret abortions for teeenage girls: it will just be said that the school has failed to help its pupils stay "healthy" and "safe."
10 comments:
Dont we need a forthright response from the Bishops' education agencies telling Ofsted exactly what to do with their pernicious ideas on health.Are we going to get another deafening silence...? Has the official Church lost all concept of the very idea of being a , nay, THE, guardian of morals?
Ken
OFSTED is absolute AntiChrist, it makes me sick.
As you say lamentable but entirely predictable to someone who grew up in the crib banning proto-new-labour Lambeth Council in the 1980's
Whats truly awful is that just because these extremists converted to Thatcherite economics, the "intelligensia" suddenly decided that their extreme social views were ok.
The best hope seems to be that such institutions as Ofsted (and HM Government department of health) will increasingly be ignored as life becomes more globalised and localised simultaneously and people spend far less time reading newspapers or watching the main TV channels because the internet, DVDs or million and one satellite channels (eg EWTN) provide a better alternative.
My kids are having a break from Beebies at the moment as I bought the Trumptonshire DVD. All 39 episodes of Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley digitally remastered. The quality of these childrens programs, made in 1966-9 without any real technological aids is outstanding.
[TF - Paul you posted this comment to the wrong post - 'vetaken the liberty of copying it and moving it.]
and the response of the Catholic Education Service is.......................................................................................................silence!
Fr. Tim,
Here’s an enlightening true story from Canada, courtesy of my mother, who was speaking to a woman whose son (in his early 20’s) spent some time in the UK getting work experience. The man in question is a regular Canadian guy, streetwise and no prude. It was his first time in Britain.
At the start of the young Canadian's sojourn in a certain British city, an English colleague drove him downtown one Friday after work for an evening out. Here is the gist of their conversation in the car:
Canadian guy (commenting on the surroundings – in all seriousness): “Gee, this is some red light district!”
Brit (puzzled): “Red light district? We’re nowhere near a red light district.”
Canadian guy (amazed and horrified): “We must be. Wow, just look at all those hookers!”
Brit (still puzzled): “What hookers? Where?”
Canadian guy: “Everywhere! There are dozens of them!”
Brit (twigging at last): “Oh – those aren’t hookers. They’re just girls going out clubbing on a Friday night.”
Canadian guy (in utter disgust): “Well, they sure as heck look like hookers to me.”
Why are the dummies at OFSTED so blind to the fact that the type of social policies they promote have turned vast numbers of England’s young ladies into a bunch of…?
(And, I hasten to add, non-Brits are equally horrified by the decline of the English gentleman into a lascivious hooligan, thanks to the same social policies, although I don’t have an suitable anecdote to hand).
When you boil down the OFSTED's, DfES's, PHSE's, 'Every Child Matters', access to health services, School Nurses etc... etc... etc... etc....
... it is just so blatantly obvious to anyone with eyes to see that a government backed social engineering agenda to undermine family life and family values(Judaeo-Christian specifically) is being played-out in our schools and backed by the 'pulp media'.
Parents must wake up to this. It's not just a 'Catholic thing'. There is a drive to somehow create a society of selfish individuals who will do nothing other than spend, spend ,spend on the lifestyle of their choice (of the moment).
Marriage and stable family life is out, while loose partnerships of any combination and children by any means (soon churned out of a factory) to be brought up by the state 'approved' nurseries.
This is the brave new world we have set in motion for our children and grandchildren. We do have the power to throw mega-spanners in the works and stop this.
Our Bishops, Priests, Rabbis and other leaders of good faith need to speak out - LOUDLY, teachers who truely believe that 'every child matters' should slam the door in OFSTED's face on these issues, so WHAT if the school has some arbitrary 'bad brownie points' against it. In years to come that won't matter a hoot, but what WILL matter is that we did not let our children down, we gave them a solid moral formation to enable them to live truely happy and holy lives.
Please God let people wake up.
I am not surprised that OFSTED is acting in this way.
The whole process of inventing these organisations is to undermine any values individuals or groups hold which will lead to a decent moral society. Sadly all we see is our young being told they can do what they like, they are even being shown pornography as part of sex education.
If the Catholic Church is to hold any moral authority then it has to take a stand and speak out against such organisations; after all, is that not we are supposed to be about?
You only have to see the teachers union wanting to stop faith schools, it actually mentioned Catholic schools!
We are not allowed to be moral upright citizens in the United Kingdom anymore; the church has given far too much ground and sucked up to people like the Blair Cult who have only their own interests at heart.
Where oh where is the leadership in our Church; we must look to ourselves and gather together (also with those members of the clergy who will) if they do not have the courage to fight the good fight!
I pray that one day soon we can belong to a church that speaks out more and does more than writing papers on how dioceses and parishes should look; enough of priests running businesses and more of practising our faith and doing the work of Christ!
Yours in the Faith and Jesus Christ.
May God Bless you All and keep you safe from all harm
I don't think OFSTED's remit will allow them to comment on this aspect of the work of a Catholic school. However I would feel a lot more confident if Catholic schools were implementing policies in this area that were robust and confident. I am particularly concerned about how Connexions are allowed into Catholic schools and their potential to give confidential advice to pupils on matters of sexual health. Twenty years teaching experience in this area has convinced me that young people are crying out to hear that it is OK not to have sex outside marriage.
I speak as an experienced Head of RE in a northern diocese who has worked in 7 Catholic schools. There are many schools in this and neighbouring dioceses where the 'sex education' policy is confused and weak, often giving free rein to the school nurse to give a value free presentation of how to avoid conception. This completely undermines the work of any good RE department and makes a mockery of a school's claim to be Catholic. What struck me was how many of these nurses and others in the sexual health bureaucracy are Catholics!
Indeed, on appointment to one school I was horrified to find pupils being instructed where and how they could access the morning-after pill without parental knowledge never mind consent. Fortunately I was in a position to revise the programme and teach it myself, in line with the teaching of the Church.
We do need more leadership from the local bishop on this issue (he is certainly not so reticent about speaking out on asylum). Indeed, we need some national guidance drawing on good practice throughout the country. Diocesan RE Advisors tend to be 'liberal' in outlook and tend to turn a blind eye and avoid this issue like the plague. The CES does not inspire confidence.
However we also need better training of staff. The principles underpinning a 'sex education' programme in a Catholic school should be that it is primarily the responsibility of the parents and therefore schools should work in close partnership with them. It should be 'prudent', and its over-riding aim is to promote chastity.
Anonymous has raised some very important points. We should listen to someone with 20 years teaching experience - and when they say that this long experience has taught them that 'YOUNG PEOPLE ARE CRYING OUT TO HEAR THAT IT IS OK NOT TO HAVE SEX OUTSIDE MARRIAGE' we are desperately letting our youngsters down and selling them short, in fact preventing them from ever having the opportunity to experience the joy of unitive and procreative sex within a loving married relationship.
If we as individuals do not do our bit however small or insignificant we think it might be to fight this secular deception called 'sex education', then this evil will prevail.
Thanks ANONYMOUS and please convey my regards to your Bishop (with a copy of your post attached)!!! God Bless you in your efforts.
I have vague memories of having the use of condoms explained to us in RE at my Catholic school (I don't mean the rights and wrongs of their use, I mean how to use one), and clear memories of an RE teacher saying, with great emphasis, "masturbation is not a sin, so long as it's not a habit".
I also remember that the school nurse wasn't allowed to give aspirin to pupils.
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