Michael Gove under pressure over anti-gay sex education

[denphone]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/...row?CMP=twt_fd

Michael Gove, the education secretary, is at the centre of an escalating row over how faith schools discuss homosexuality in sex education classes.

The TUC has accused Gove of failing in his legal duties by insisting that equality laws, which prohibit discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, do not extend to the school curriculum.

The TUC complains that the current situation sends mixed signals to the playground, because schools are legally obliged to condemn discrimination on sexual-orientation grounds but free to use religious materials that equality campaigners claim is homophobic.

Brendan Barber, the TUC's general secretary, wrote to Gove in December expressing alarm that a booklet containing "homophobic material" had been distributed by a US preacher after talks to pupils at Roman Catholic schools across the Lancashire region in 2010.

[Hugh]

tbf, the "anti-gay" material was also "anti-contraception", and it was distributed to a couple of Catholic schools by some nutty Americans.

Both equally misguided, imho.

[Damien]

Hard to say anything without knowing what exactly this material contains, of course sex education shouldn't be used to teach that homosexuality is wrong - even in a faith school. They certainly shouldn't be anti-contraception in sex education.

[Maggy J]

Another reason to deny the setting up of faith based schools.Secular education should be the way we go and faith kept out of our schools.

If parents really want their children to have a religion then they do have the power to educate their own children in a faith.

However in my experience many parents just send their children to the local faith based schools because they have heard it's a better school than the nearest state school not because they particularly care that their children are educated in that faith.

[Digital Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Another reason to deny the setting up of faith based schools.Secular education should be the way we go and faith kept out of our schools.

If parents really want their children to have a religion then they do have the power to educate their own children in a faith.

However in my experience many parents just send their children to the local faith based schools because they have heard it's a better school than the nearest state school not because they particularly care that their children are educated in that faith.

Totally agree Maggy

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Another reason to deny the setting up of faith based schools.Secular education should be the way we go and faith kept out of our schools.

If parents really want their children to have a religion then they do have the power to educate their own children in a faith.

However in my experience many parents just send their children to the local faith based schools because they have heard it's a better school than the nearest state school not because they particularly care that their children are educated in that faith.

That's a surprisingly illiberal viewpoint. Given the length of time children spend in school, do you not think the moral framework adopted by that school might be an important aspect of a parent's decision to 'educate their own children in a faith'?