Teachers’ perceptions and experiences of delivery LGBTQ+ inclusive Relationships and Sex Education (RSE)

The RSE guidance for schools in England now outlines the ‘compulsory’ teaching of LGBTQ+ identities and families. This study responds to the need to investigate teachers’ perceptions and experiences of delivering the new RSE curriculum. Primary and secondary school teachers in England were recruited via emails sent to schools and through use of social media. In total, 72 teachers responded to the online survey which captured quantitative and qualitative data. The responses to the closed survey questions indicated a great deal of variability in terms of having access to adequate resources and training, feeling confident, and having adequate support from their school and parents. The open-ended responses were analysed using Thematic Framework Analysis, which was used to identify two main categories with sub-categories to reflect the challenges of delivery and suggestions for improvement. A key challenge identified was how to teach children about gender identity, with concerns about ‘gender ideology’ expressed by some teachers. Teacher confidence was reported to be low, with problems in some schools of a lack of leadership and parental support, as well as an unhelpful school culture, particularly in faith schools. To conclude, although there are schools where this appears to be working well, it appears that many teachers are lacking confidence and the necessary resources. When combined with a lack of support from parents, school leadership, wider society, and a lack of steer from government, this makes it challenging for many teachers to push forwards with an inclusive agenda