Sex education guidance: DfE scraps Tories’ proposed age limits

Relationships, sex and health education guidance will no longer place age limits on “sensitive” topics or prevent schools from teaching about the “broader concept of gender identity”, after Labour abandoned some changes planned by the last government.

Primary schools will also be “strongly encouraged” to teach about “healthy loving relationships, and to include same-sex parents along with other family arrangements when discussing families”.

The Department for Education has finally issued its response to the consultation launched in 2023 on proposed changes to the statutory guidance, which governs what schools must teach, along with updated guidance that will come into effect in September 2026.

When the consultation first launched, the then Conservative government proposed setting age limits on “sensitive” topics and ordering schools not to teach about gender identity.

But the Labour administration placed the proposals under review when it took power last July.

In the response, issued today, the DfE said that “following careful consideration of the responses to this consultation on flexibility and age limits, the department has decided not to introduce age limits on certain topics in the RSHE statutory guidance”.

However, the government said it was “clear on the need for content to be age appropriate.

“On balance, we think it is important not to restrict schools from being able to use their professional judgment over when topics should be taught for the benefit and safety of pupils.

“Our decision also reflects growing evidence that indicates that risks are affecting children earlier. The amended guidance stresses that schools are responsible for ensuring that lesson content is age-appropriate, while allowing flexibility to develop a curriculum that meets the needs of their pupils.”

The government has also announced that from early 2026, schools will be able to “apply for an RSHE training grant”, after its polling showed three in four teachers worried “about the influence of online misogyny over their pupils”. 

No further details of the grant have been released.

Changes on gender

The Conservatives’ draft guidance had stated schools “should not teach about the broader concept of gender identity”, which it said was “a highly contested and complex subject”.

In the government consultation, 14,196 people were asked if they supported the proposed changes on gender identity and reassignment. Sixty-two per cent said no.

“Comments include that you cannot teach about gender reassignment without teaching about gender identity”, and that “teaching about gender identity does not lead children to question their gender but rather promotes respect and tolerance and that not teaching about it is harmful to those students experiencing gender dysphoria”.

Some respondents “expressed concerns about how to teach about gender identity while complying with duties in the education act to be politically impartial”.

‘Teach the facts’

The updated guidance states that pupils should be “taught the facts and the law about biological sex and gender reassignment.

“This should recognise that people have legal rights by virtue of their biological sex which are different from the rights of those of the opposite sex with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment.

“Pupils should also be taught to recognise that people with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, as with the other protected characteristics, have protection from discrimination and should be treated with respect and dignity.”

In teaching about this, schools should be “mindful that beyond the facts and the law about biological sex and gender reassignment there is significant debate, and they should be careful not to endorse any particular view or teach it as fact.

For example, they should “not teach as fact that all people have a gender identity.

“Schools should avoid language and activities which repeat or enforce gender stereotypes. Schools should be mindful to avoid any suggestion that social transition is a simple solution to feelings of distress or discomfort.”

It comes as schools continue to await updated guidance on supporting trans pupils, which the current government also put under review last year.

Planned content on suicide retained

Many of the Conservatives’ proposed changes to the RSHE guidance have been retained.

For example, the new guidance includes a section on the need to be open and transparent with parents about what is taught.

The DfE said the section “makes clear that contractual restrictions with external providers that prevent the sharing of any materials at all with parents are void and unenforceable.

“The guidance supports sharing materials with parents via online and offline methods, and where that is not possible for the parent, they should be able to take materials home to view them providing they agree not to copy or share further.”

Additional content on suicide, bereavement, illegal online behaviours, personal safety, menstrual and gynaecological health have been retained.

There will also be secondary school lessons on incel culture, “as well as increasing awareness of AI, deepfakes and how pornography links to misogyny”, the DfE said.

Children will “start to build positive attitudes to relationships between friends and family in primary school, followed by new dedicated content in secondary school that helps boys identify positive male role models, and all children to expect consent and kindness when they get ready for more intimate relationships”. 

Additional new content at secondary will include sexual ethics “beyond consent, for example teaching young people that yes doesn’t always mean yes as factors like peer pressure should be taken into account”.