Aims

• What is currently delivered as part of sex and relationships education (SRE) lessons in both primary and secondary schools in the UK and the challenges that schools face in delivering SRE.
• Inadequacies of SRE in British schools.
• What topics should ideally be included in SRE and the importance of SRE from a young age.
• How SRE is delivered in the Netherlands, a country that has one of the lowest rates of teenage pregnancy in Europe. The Dutch system tackles SRE within the broader emotional and social context of sex and relationships education and starts SRE in primary schools. SRE is also provided outside the school system in youth clubs and, in general, sex in the Netherlands seems much less of a taboo subject than in the UK.
• How effective SRE that is delivered in a consistent and open way from a young age can impact on young peoples' behaviour, reducing the incidence of teenage pregnancy and increasing the likelihood of young people practicing safer sex when they do decide to have sex.