School sex education policies

AbstractIn England and Wales responsibility for each school's policy on sex education rests with the governing body. School governors could potentially exert a major influence on the sex education experience of young people. The purpose of this study is to further understanding of how these quasi-autonomous groups are functioning in this respect by exploring the process of policy development in individual schools and also the perceptions of the staff about the way the policy has influenced practice. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in 14 schools randomly selected from one Local Education Authority. The main issues to emerge were: teaching staff playing the lead role in policy development and policy writing; little or no planned consultation with parents or community groups; policy recording existing practice; no monitoring of implementation; general lack of confidence of governors about their role in this area. In general, governing bodies were not fully utilising the opportunity to work collecti...