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Kids removed from UK schools for "inappropriate sexual behavior"

A U.K. government report has described as "worrying" the discovery that children in the youngest grades of primary school are being removed from class for "inappropriate sexual behaviour," reports Hilary White, LifeSiteNews.com. According to the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted), 14 out of the 69 schools surveyed had related problems with children as young as four acting out.

The report mentioned children touching other children "inappropriately" and using "sexually graphic language." Other offenses included swearing, attacking staff and throwing furniture. In some of the schools in the investigation, the same children had been suspended ten times in one year.

The report says that teachers who contacted social services over worries about the children's sexualized behavior were often turned away, with one being told that the child would "grow out of it."

Miriam Rosen, director of education at Ofsted, said, "Sexualised behaviour can indicate a child protection issue, so the important thing is that they refer to the social services so they can deal with the problem."

In the report's conclusion, Ofsted is "urgently" asking the government for guidelines to help teachers "identify" appropriate sexual behavior and when to refer a child to social services in case that child is at risk of abuse.

The revelation comes at the same time as government plans to introduce explicit "sex education" to children as young as five are moving forward.

In April this year, Children's Secretary Ed Balls said that, starting in 2011, personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) will become a compulsory subject for all students in British schools from age four through the end of high school. Previously schools were obliged only to teach lessons in human reproduction, contraception and puberty in science lessons and could opt out of the PSHE courses.

Norman Wells, head of the Family Education Trust (FET), told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN), that the problem is more systemic than isolated cases of child abuse. "Inappropriate sexual behavior among young children in primary schools is all part of the price we are paying for our highly sexualized culture," he said.

The FET is a research and lobby group that investigates the causes of family breakdown in the UK. Wells accused the government of "caving in to the demands of the sex education lobby" in its plans to expand sex education in the national curriculum.

"We are failing to learn the lesson that introducing children to sexual language and imagery, whether on television, videos, DVDs, the internet, or in formal school lessons will inevitably break down children's natural sense of reserve."

TAGS: United Kingdom children primary school "inappropriate sexual behavior" education social services

[07/02/2009]

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