Pupils: Health

Department for Education written question – answered at on 22 May 2019.

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Photo of Paul Farrelly Paul Farrelly Labour, Newcastle-under-Lyme

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on (a) creating a body image and media literacy toolkit and (b) making it a compulsory element of the school curriculum.

Photo of Nick Gibb Nick Gibb Minister of State (Education)

The Government is committed to an ambitious programme of activity to support good physical and mental health in children and young people. The Department for Education is working closely with the Department for Health and Social Care to provide support for schools so that they can promote good physical and mental wellbeing amongst their pupils.

As part of this, the Government is making the teaching of health education compulsory in all state-funded schools from September 2020. Relationships education will be taught in all primary schools and relationships and sex education in all secondary schools. Schools are being encouraged and supported to start teaching these new subjects from September 2019.

The statutory guidance for the new subjects sets out that pupils should be taught about the similarities and differences between the online world and the physical world. This should cover the impact of unhealthy or obsessive comparison with others online including through setting unrealistic expectations for body image and how people may curate a specific image of their life online.

The Department is also producing supporting information for schools on how to teach about issues related to internet safety across the curriculum. This will cover information about the types of harms that young people could face online, including the impact that internet content can have on body confidence, along with guidance about teaching children how to assess critically what they encounter online.

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