1. The Case for PSHE Education Joe Hayman 4 July 2014

2. The Evidence

3. There is growing evidence to suggest that health education, and the skills and attributes acquired through PSHE education more broadly, have a significant impact not only on health but also on pupil attainment, employability and future life chances.

4. Education and Health

5. Health education, delivered as part of a whole-school approach, has been proven to have a significant impact on health behaviours by a recent review of Health Promoting Schools (Langford et al, 2014).

6. A recent BMJ editorial (Bonell et al, 2014) notes that “education and health are synergistic… students in better health do better academically”. It identifies countries such as Finland, Singapore and Sweden which have better academic success than us and a greater emphasis on pupil health.

7. This ‘synergistic’ relationship between health and academic performance was reinforced by the Chief Medical Officer in her most recent annual report, which refers to PSHE education as a “bridge between education and public health”.

8. Social and emotional learning and links to attainment

9. There is growing evidence of the links between good health, SEL, soft skill development and academic success: A DfE commissioned report (Gutman and Vorhaus, 2012) found that pupils with higher levels of emotional wellbeing go on to have higher levels of academic success.

10. A study of emotional resilience programmes in 22 UK schools (Challen et al, 2011) found short-term improvement in pupil attendance and attainment rates, particularly amongst those eligible for FSM and pupils who had been performing at below national average in maths/English.

11. A study by US economist James Heckman (2008) looking at the impacts of life-long learning in a range of educational settings highlighted the relationship between socio- emotional skills, physical development, mental health and attainment.

12. Life skills and life chances

13. A series of reports in recent years also emphasise the importance to pupils’ life chances of the skills and attributes PSHE education seeks to develop:

14. 1. The Demos ‘Forgotten Half’ report noted that skills such as communication, teamwork and application are as important as academic ability in predicting future earnings (Demos, 2011).

15. 2. The ‘First Steps’ report from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI, 2013) called for a more “rounded and grounded” education system, concluding that “personal behaviours and attributes – sometimes termed ‘character’ – play a critical role in personal effectiveness”.

16. 3. The 2013 CBI/Pearson Education and Skills Survey identified ‘communication skills’ and ‘self-management’ as among employers’ top priorities from schools (CBI/Pearson, 2013).

17. 4. The 2014 British Chambers of Commerce Skills and Employment Manifesto calls for intensified efforts from schools to help pupils to develop ‘soft employability skills’ (BCC, 2014).

18. There is strong evidence that these skills can be developed through classroom learning: an analysis of over 200 SEL programmes by Durlak et al (2011) demonstrated improved social and emotional skills, attitudes, behaviour and an 11% improvement in attainment.

19. The Education Endowment Foundation’s Teaching and Learning Toolkit, states that SEL programmes have a significant impact on attitudes to learning, social relationships in school and attainment itself (EEF, 2014).

20. Pupil and Parent Attitudes

21. A YouGov survey commissioned by the PSHE Association in May 2014 and released yesterday shows that 90% of parents agree that children and young people should receive lessons that prepare them for life and support their health and emotional wellbeing alongside academic study.

22. 470,000 young people were involved in making ‘a curriculum which prepares us for life’ the UKYP’s priority campaign in England in 2014. The campaign calls for better PSHE education in schools, recognising its importance to young people.

23. The statutory position

24. Every state-funded school must offer a balanced/broadly-based curriculum which: - promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils; - prepares pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life

25. Schools also have statutory responsibilities in relation to: promoting pupil wellbeing and pupil safeguarding (Children Act 2004) community cohesion (Education Act 2006).

26. Added to this, in September 2013 the Department for Education reminded schools that they must publish their school curriculum by subject, including their provision for PSHE education.

27. The Levers: Ofsted

28. Ofsted has identified a strong correlation between schools which achieved a high grade for PSHE education and those which were graded outstanding for overall effectiveness

29. Janet Palmer HMI has blogged about the importance of PSHE in section 5 inspections (available via PSHE Association website)

30. “Strong PSHE can go a long way to helping a school fulfil its responsibilities to progress pupils’ SMSC…. Inspectors will explore how pupils are learning to develop and apply an understanding of right and wrong; for example, by their attitudes to, and use of, racist, disablist or homophobic language.”

31. “It is also difficult to see how safety and safeguarding can be good if PSHE education provision is poor. If pupils are kept ignorant of their human, physical and sexual rights; or how to protect themselves and others, or know where to go to for help, they are not being adequately safeguarded.”

32. “Inspectors leading s5 inspections have been guided to grade behaviour and safety separately and to take the lowest grade as the overall grade for Behaviour and Safety; and if Behaviour and Safety are judged to require improvement this is likely to affect the overall effectiveness grade.”

33. “Ofsted will be inspecting how well the curriculum helps pupils to protect themselves from among other things drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders, gang culture, CSE, extremism, FGM and forced marriage. Where else but in PSHE lessons are these issues going to be addressed?”

34. What the PSHE Association is doing

35. 1. Seeking to influence debate on the broad and balanced curriculum, SMSC 2. Making the case to Government and Opposition pre-election 3. Working with schools and LAs to raise standards across the Board

36. 4. New SRE advice with Brook and the Sex Education Forum 5. New guidance on teaching about consent at key stages 3 and 4 6. Updated briefing on addressing pornography and sharing of sexual images

37. 7. Updating our Programme of Study and Primary Toolkit over the summer 8. New evidence briefing to give teachers and LA leads the ammunition they need 9. Gathering case studies of where PSHE has contributed to strong Ofsted performance

38. www.pshe-association.org.uk joe@pshe-association.org.uk