Quality assurance is of paramount importance to us here at School of Sexuality Education. We believe our model - an external charity providing relationships and sex(uality) education - currently offers one of the best ways to provide this. 

Here’s why:

1. RSE is broad and needs multiple experts

Relationships and sex education is a huge subject area, ranging from consent and healthy relationships to puberty and sexual health. It also requires some unique pedagogical approaches, as the RSE classroom is distinct from other learning environments. 

Our team comprises qualified teachers, doctors, those with a background in the sexual and domestic violence response sector, refugee support, psychology and youth work. Many of our team work part-time alongside other relevant work such as completing PhDs in RSE-related research. We also work with world-leading academics in gender and education.

Our curriculum is co-designed by this team of experts, meaning all of the subject areas we cover are accurate and based on best-practice approaches. It’s also informed by input from our youth advisory panel, and ongoing feedback from young people during our workshops.

2. Our programme development process is an iterative one

We have a suite of workshops that our team is trained up to deliver. They then go into schools, deliver these same lessons repeatedly, and then come back together as a group to reflect on what’s working well and what needs improvement.

Not only does this mean that they become highly competent at delivering our workshops in a succinct and engaging way, but it also means that our curriculum is being constantly reviewed according to student, teacher and team feedback.

3. We’re observed by multiple teachers, in multiple schools, multiple times a week

Teachers are always present during our workshops. This means they can provide feedback either directly to us, or to our lead school contact. Often, a member of our team will deliver the same workshops to five different classes across a day, meaning five different teachers see the lesson and can discuss together afterwards.

This provides a level of scrutiny that it would be unusual to see replicated in a regular school set-up. Meanwhile, we have a re-booking rate of 85%, indicative of the approval of teachers that see us in action!

Alongside this, we also have an internal observation system, whereby we regularly observe and provide feedback to colleagues to help them continually develop their classroom practice.

4. We have greater capacity to discuss, reflect and develop.

Unlike an in-house member of staff, who will often be asked to deliver RSE alongside their main subject specialism, our team is solely dedicated to thinking about, discussing and reflecting on relationships and sex education. This level of immersion results in enhanced teaching confidence, knowledge and creativity of practice.

5. We hire facilitators with existing expertise and provide them with ongoing training

We specifically hire those with both a passion for RSE and existing experience in a relevant subject area - for example, medicine, teaching, counselling or youth work. We then provide them with training and shadowing before they begin teaching. This means that young people will always be taught by someone who is unflappable, knowledgeable and is passionate about the aims of RSE.