Bishop: Our schools do not ‘promote homophobia’
By David V Barrett

12 March 2010

The proposed changes to how sex education should be taught in schools are “some of the most unenlightened clauses that I have ever encountered in my 30 years in Parliament”, Catholic peer Lord Alton has said.

The previous day Bishop Malcolm McMahon of Nottingham, the bishop in charge of education, said that “the firestorm whipped up in the media a couple of weeks back” by critics claiming that faith schools would teach sex education in a way that would promote homophobia “highlights a lack of real understanding of what is being taught in Catholic schools”.

Both have spoken out vigorously this week on the proposed changes to legislation on sex education in the Children, Schools and Families Bill. Lord Alton said: “The Bill seeks to take away powers from schools and parents by placing sex and relationship education (SRE) on to the national curriculum and removing the parental right to withdraw children for the last year at school.”

Speaking in the House of Lords debate on the Bill Lord Alton agreed that “young people need to have an understanding of sex in relationships”, but he said that “many parents are anxious that their children should not lose their innocence too young and that teaching about sexual relationships should not seek to eliminate the role and the wishes of parents”.

At present, he said, parents have influence on how “this particularly delicate subject” is taught in two ways. First, they help school governors determine the curriculum, and second, they have the right to withdraw their children from sex education classes if they object to the way they are being taught. Both rights are being taken away.

Lord Alton quoted the legal opinion of top human rights barrister John Bowers: “The Bill therefore represents a radical appropriation of power by central government, enabling them to dictate teaching on a matter over which many parents have strongly held moral or religious convictions. The Bill would further erode parental influence in an area which many parents would assert is a matter for the family rather than for schools.”

Lord Alton said that many parents were “particularly outraged” at the Government’s proposals. The Government’s own consultation showed that 68 per cent of respondents said that they did not want SRE to be placed on the national curriculum, and 79 per cent said that they did not want the parental right to withdraw a child to be interfered with. “Simply ignoring the views of parents on such a sensitive matter smacks of arrogance and the worst kind of nanny state,” he said.

He also criticised the proposed requirement to teach schoolchildren how to procure an abortion. “I cannot begin to tell the Minister how much anxiety this has engendered, and not just among Catholics, Jews, Muslims and Anglicans, who as a matter of conscience believe abortion to be the taking of an innocent life,” he said.

He continued: “This is not a trivial matter, and I hope that the Government realises the implications. The Government needs to understand that such a fundamental attack on the character and ethos of faith schools will create a crisis of conscience for parents and teachers alike. After their inept handling of the adoption agencies issue, the Government should understand the enormity of this question which they have opened.”

Bishop McMahon said on Monday that Catholic schools promote respect for diversity. Writing in the Times Bishop McMahon, chairman of the Catholic Education Service for England and Wales, said that Catholic schools created an atmosphere in which bullying, homophobic or otherwise, was unacceptable.

The bishop pointed to Ofsted reports showing that 61 per cent of Catholic schools were judged excellent or very good in ensuring respect for other people compared to 43 per cent of other schools in England, and 55 per cent of Catholic schools were judged as excellent or very good in keeping pupils free from bullying, racism or harassment, compared to only 44 per cent of schools nationally. “That’s one of the major reasons why so many parents decide to send their children to Catholic schools in the first place,” he said.

Teaching sex education the Catholic way “does not lead to discriminatory and intolerant behaviour, nor does it lead to a deficient knowledge of the full facts of life”, he said.

“In Catholic teaching, the equality of all men and women is embraced because all are seen as the children of God. They are not defined by their race, ethnic identity or sexual orientation.”