Patten backed on sex education

BY MURRAY WHITE.
EDUCATION SECRETARY John Patten was urged to stand firm by Catholic leaders this week after he ran into a cabinet battle over his forthcoming guidelines for sex education.
The Catholic cabinet minister, who has long voiced his opposition to liberal forces in the classroom, is keen to emphasise family values in his plans.
Draft guidelines emphasised the right of parents to be informed about the sex lessons of their children. But Health Secretary Virginia Bottomley is thought to want wider guarantees that all pupils be taught about contraception and AIDS regardless of parental choice.
A senior Catholic education source said that the Department for Health was merely engaged in a negative drive to reduce teenage pregnancies. Church education authorities could not accept Mrs Bottomley's view that "the ends justify the means".
Nuala Scarisbrick, National Administrator of Life, who regularly speaks at schools on sex education, called on Mr Patten to "stick to his guns. The whole of sex education in the past 20 years has been a national failure and a national disgrace".
A Catholic working party last week submitted its official response to Mr Patten's draft guidelines, welcoming the special consideration given to Voluntary Aided schools, but concerned about the right of parents actually to withdraw their children from sex lessons.
Fr Harry Stratton, Chair
man of the working group, said: "We would be unhappy to see sex education isolated from the rest of the curriculum." Most Catholic schools operate a cross-curricular approach, which would be very complicated to withdraw children from.
Lynne Scholefield, lecturer at St Mary's College, Twickenham and working party member, said: "Cultural, intellectual and spiritual attitude to sex education should be included, not just moral. The draft did not talk about spiritual aspects at all."