Abrahamic Commentary on the RSE Legislation

Note on terminology:  ‘RSE’ stands for the statutory legislation published in 2019 that has been compulsory in all schools since 2020, Relationships and Sex Education.

As a teacher in a faith school myself, I am interested to explore how RSE can be taught in faith schools. As part of an extensive training programme in RSE, I encountered other teachers from faith schools. My own faith background (and school) is Shi’a Muslim, but I met teachers from the Catholic sector who were asking the same questions as me. Through this experience I have uncovered some fascinating and useful research, with the end result that an ‘Abrahamic Commentary’ on RSE has now been produced.

I was delighted to meet Lucy Emmerson, CEO of the Sex Education Forum. The Forum provides excellent resources and clarity on all the different issues involved in RSE, such as being aware of diversity in your classroom and the community. It was a suggestion from Lucy to show non-Christian families and weddings, to embrace diversity, and that got me thinking. I wanted to represent other faiths and provide more information for parents and pupils from these faiths too. After speaking to others, I decided upon an Abrahamic model.

I sought advice and expertise from advisers, teachers, Local Authorities, the PSHE Association and scholars from the three faiths. I was particularly pleased to meet Dr Jo Sell, whose doctoral thesis explored ‘faith, relationships and sex education’. Through Jo I learnt that young people from a faith background struggle with the same issues as those from a non-faith background; consent, mental health concerns and silence. In some religious communities issues that young people experience can become hidden. Young people of faith can struggle with observing a traditional form of their faith, upholding their family expectations, and experimenting as young people will, especially as they are bombarded with an external culture that is more open and direct about matters of sexuality.

However there are many faith-sensitive ways to open up a conversation and it has been wonderful to learn more about them. A conception of being made in the ‘image of God’ for example, speaks to human dignity and respect for the body. However some principles are simply traditional village culture given a religious spin. During a discussion at an Islamic conference the issue of sex and relationships came up. It was refreshingly honest, open and balanced – the trouble was that from start to finish the whole thing could have been taking place in a secular ‘marriage guidance’ context. ‘Muslim’ only denoted the cultural context of the discussion and there was no input from Islam at all. As a Muslim myself I would like to see a thorough study of Islamic anthropology, addressing the question of what is it to be human? From there I would like to see an exploration of the dynamics of relationships, community and society from an Islamic perspective. It would be wonderful to see this for all faiths.

The Abrahamic commentary provides support for teachers when delivering RSE. They can refer to the three faith areas to further develop and explore understanding of the principles and topics, such as families, the body, marriage or respect for others. The commentary has been created for both Primary and Secondary phases, and is age- appropriate. We also hope parents from the Abrahamic faiths will also find interest and support in the commentary, as well as parents from all and no faiths; the scriptures are treasures of wisdom for all humanity to benefit from.

The commentary can be found here.

Further Resources:

Dr Jo Sell’s faith- and student- sensitive approach to RSE can be found on her website: https://realationships.co.uk/

Jo has published her thesis: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10072639/1/Sell_10072639_Thesis_sig-removed.pdf
The Sex Education Forum: https://www.sexeducationforum.org.uk/