Academies Bill: Personal, Social and Health Education
21st July 2010
During a debate on the Academies Bill, David Burrowes raises his concerns that an amendment to make Personal, Social and Health Education a statutory requirement for Academies would be inappropriate because Governors and parents should be trusted to deliver quality value based teaching.
Mr David Burrowes (Enfield, Southgate) (Con): I commend the position that my hon. Friend is taking on amendment 26. Does that amendment not highlight the seeming lack of respect for the fact that governors, in conjunction with parents and teachers, take PSHE seriously, are concerned about its quality and want it to be properly taught with proper values-based teaching underlying it?
Mr Gibb: My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and that is the sort of issue we will look at when the review takes place. The curriculum review that is taking place later this year must be the right place to look at PSHE, to ensure that this important subject is debated properly. Members will have every opportunity to contribute to that debate, but at this point it makes sense to ensure that academies' policy on PSHE does not go further than PSHE policy in maintained schools.
Clause 28 of the model funding agreement already states:
I hope that that provision reassures my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, Southgate (Mr Burrowes) and the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas), who raised the question of why the national curriculum is not on the statute book for academies. As I mentioned before, there is statutory provision in section 78 of the Education Act 2002 for a broad and balanced curriculum. Creationism cannot be taught as fact in academies or in maintained schools, and it cannot be taught as part of science lessons. The hon. Lady's notion of the purpose of education-enabling the potential of any individual to be fulfilled, whether that is academic or vocational-I agree with 100%. She is absolutely right: fulfilling the potential of every child to the best of their ability, in whatever field that is, is the purpose of education.
