Gay relationships and HIV included in new look compulsory sex education.

The government have announced that sex education will become compulsory for all schools, and that lessons will discuss gay issues and relationships and sexually transmitted infections such as HIV.

Sex education will begin from the age of five. Primary school children will learn about their bodies and puberty, along with marriages, divorces and civil partnerships. Pupils in secondary education will be taught about contraception, gay and lesbian relationships and HIV.

The Lesbian and Gay Foundation welcomed the news, a spokeswoman for the charity said: "The news that it will be compulsory for issues like lesbian, bisexual and gay relationships and HIV to be discussed in schools could not have come at a more crucial time. Many of the perpetrators in recent high profile homophobic attacks have been school age young people or have recently left school. Hopefully, the discussion of gay issues in schools will lead to a greater understanding of gay relationships and acceptance of gay people.

"As an organisation we find that young people are often a group who are difficult to reach in terms of sexual health messages and HIV prevention work, we hope that this move to talk more openly about HIV in schools will lead to greater awareness of sexual health issues among young people."

Chief executive of the National Aids Trust Deborah Jack said: "We are pleased that discussion of same sex relationships and HIV is included in the PSHE education programme of study. HIV is a serious long-term condition and young gay men remain the group of young people most at risk. In the past young gay men have often been ignored in sex and relationships lessons in schools and the result has been a rise in young gay men being diagnosed with HIV.”

The changes to the teaching of sex education in schools, comes after a government commissioned review of Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) which was published in April. One of the most controversial parts of the review carried out by Sir Alisdair Macdonald was the the revealation that faith schools would be able to teach sex education in line with there own religious beliefs, leading to fears that some pupils could miss out if faith schools chose not to discuss gay relationships and contraception.

Will faith schools discuss gay relationships?

Yesterday's announcement confirmed that faith schools will be allowed to teach sex education in line with their own ethos or beliefs. However, they will be required to educate pupils about issues such as understanding homosexuality and abortion, but they will be allowed to present such issues in line with their religious teachings.

Ed Balls, Minister for Families, Schools and Children said: “You can teach the promotion of marriage, you can teach that you shouldn't have sex outside of marriage, what you can't do is deny young people information about contraception outside of marriage.

“The same arises in homosexuality. Some faiths have a view about what in religious terms is right and wrong – what they can’t do though is not teach the importance of tolerance.”

Will teachers get any training?

Under the new guidelines, it will be compulsory for teachers to talk about gay relationships and HIV in schools. But reseach has shown that due to a lack of training many teachers find homosexuality a difficult issue to approach. It will be interesting to know if the Department of children, schools and families plan to give the appropriate training to approach subjects like gay relationships and HIV, so teachers are confident and competent in tackling such subjects.

According to the Stonewall Teachers Report, two in five teachers and non-teaching staff at secondary and primary schools would not feel confident in providing pupils with information, advice and guidance on lesbian and gay issues.

The Lesbian & Gay Foundation work with partners on a schools project called Exceeding Expectations which challenges homophobic bullying in schools. Pat Derbyshire, Head Teacher, at The Ewing School in Manchester , highlighted why such projects are so necessary given the current lack of teacher training around gay issues, she said: “We got involved in Exceeding Expectations as there is a serious issue with homophobia in school particularly name calling. We actually needed help from outside the school to support us in dealing with the issues and to refresh our thinking."

To ensure teachers receive the relevant training so all young people - including lesbian, gay and bisexual kids - get the best support, information and education contact Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools, and Families, by clicking here.

If you want to get involved in helping young lesbian, gay and bisexual people to aim high and achieve, click here.

For more information on HIV, click here.

To find out about the LGF's Rapid HIV Testing clinic, click here.