Young people receive messages about relationships, sex and sexuality throughout all aspects of their lives. What they learn in school is important, however, lived experience, relationships, social media, and social norms also have an impact.
To find out what research tells us about young people's experiences of learning about relationships, sex and sexuality we reviewed the published literature.
We identified 172 journal articles and reports, all of which drew on the direct views of children for inclusion in our study. We looked at:
Our literature review highlights the need for adults to better understand children's different experiences and will inform the NSPCC’s research, service development, policy influencing, and communications.
Authors: Vicki Hollis, Rachel Margolis, Mike Williams, Zoe Swaine, Flavia Russo, Madeleine Baldwin, Chloe Gill
Published: 2022
Wider society, peers, friends and family all influence children. They also learn through social media, pornography, and other online sources. Parents can sometimes face challenges in having conversations about sex and healthy relationships with their children.
Most RSE assumes children are heterosexual and does not consider LGBTQ+ experiences. Children think that information is provided too late on topics such as periods, consent and recognising sexual abuse and grooming.
Suggestions include:
Children have described how they would like to see the whole-school environment reflect an ethos of respect and care for all students.
Please cite as: Hollis, V. et al (2022) Children and young people's views on learning about relationships, sex, and sexuality: a narrative review of UK literature. London: NSPCC.
Training, lesson plans, a whole-school approach framework and a dedicated helpline to support secondary school teachers and leaders embed sex and relationships education across their whole school.
Relationships and sex education teaching resources to help you plan health, relationships and sex education that protects young people and promotes healthy wellbeing.
Explains why LGBTQ+ children might be at greater risk of some types of abuse and shares best practice for professionals on supporting and protecting them.
