Relationships Education in English Primary Schools : Squaring the Circle of Equality in the Early 21st Century
Abstract
Relationships Education (RE) will become a compulsory subject in English primary schools in September 2020 and parents will not have the right to withdraw their children from the lessons. Some like the Parkfield Community School in Birmingham have already included the subject in their curriculum through the No Outsiders project which was developed by Andrew Moffat and partly refers to LGBT issues. In 2019, protesters around the school forced it to withdraw the project for a few months. No Outsiders covers less than half of the contents of RE but it also relies heavily on the 2010 Equality Act and is thus an important indicator on the problems to come when all schools have to teach RE. The approach of the government to tackling same-sex relationships in primary schools has been everything but clear and the 2010 Equality Act seems to fall short in its attempt to protect equally all the “characteristics” it defines.