David Laws has this week committed to compulsory sex and relationships education echoing the views of young people. Last week IPPR’s polling of 18 year olds showed that more than eight out of ten young people agree that sex and relationship advice should be taught in schools. But schools need to be more effective in commissioning and providing high-quality content, delivered by experts.
Our concerns are not new but the rapid expansion of technological possibilities has changed the nature of the debate. Young people are revealing ever more information about themselves, and traditional ‘offline’ occurrences such as bullying, relationship break-ups and social pressures are magnified and recorded online. Relationships can be more intensive, with more opportunities for contact and less visibility or moderation by adults, and relationships and friendships often create permanent digital content. Sexting is part of many teenagers’ everyday lives. Access to adult or extreme material is now fundamentally different and much easier. And quality information, clear social norms and opportunities for redress are less present online.
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