How can the Preparing for Adulthood outcomes be used to deliver RSE messages to older learners with SEND? How do we frame the teaching that we offer learners with SEND to enable them to have safe and fulfilling sexual relationships when they are old enough and ready? How do we support young people with SEND to navigate their personal and intimate relationships, so they can enjoy their sexuality without harm?
For many older learners with SEND, the RSE guidance for schools ends too early for them. Learners with SEND in further education colleges and sixth forms very often have not achieved the level of understanding and skills around relationships to enable them to feel confident and capable of having an intimate or sexual relationship when they are ready. Learners in special colleges and sixth forms have questions about love, partners, marriage, babies, living together, but without mandatory RSE post-16, and with the increased vulnerability of many learners with SEND, these topics could easily be overlooked. RSE is not mandatory after secondary education, but many educators will recognise the relevance of these topics and often do address them. Mandatory RSE in Key Stage 5 would help to guarantee this.
Research by Mencap (2005) found that whilst around 70% of the general adult population live as a couple with their partner, only 3% of people with a learning disability. Some of the reasons for this jarring disparity included social isolation, inadequate understanding and skills, a lack of privacy, and an imbalanced focus on risks rather than rights for people with additional needs or disabilities. Long before children understand how babies are made or what it means to form an intimate relationship, commitment and love are out there in our children’s aspirations for the future. “When I grow up I want to…” is a phrase filled with such promise, and yet for some who may have aspired to this when they were young people, it has been an unachievable dream. All these years on from Mencap’s research, people with learning disabilities are still citing the same issues, including infantilisation, being assumed not to be sexual, and a lack of knowledge and skills to begin or maintain relationships. (Brown et al, 2020).
The Preparing for Adulthood outcomes, outlined in the SEND Code of Practice (2014) presents the ideal opportunity. Through exploring the 4 key areas of employment, independent living, community inclusion and health, learners with SEND aged 14 – 25 can continue their learning around relationships and sex, supporting young adults with SEND to feel empowered and confident to navigate their personal relationships through developing their independence.
Get practical advice and work through examples of activities that you can use in your classroom
Our 2-hour course, delivered as an online webinar explores how RSE can be used to embed messages relating to independent living and preparing for adulthood outcomes, supporting young people with SEND to gain independence, and navigate their personal and social relationships safely. The course includes activities around developing a meaningful curriculum, with practical advice on how to approach key topics such as consent and condoms, and examples of activities that you can deliver in your own classroom.
“an informative, well-structured workshop”
“some great ideas to take away to apply to my own setting”
This course is ideal for SENCOs, RSE and PSHE subject leads, senior leaders with subject responsibility for the subject, and class teachers delivering RSE to learners with unique learning needs. The session is popular with teachers of learners in Key stage 3, 4 and 5, who are delivering Preparing for Adulthood outcomes, but is also very helpful for teachers working with key stage 2, who are incorporating PfA messages and developing learners’ aspirations for their adult life through their RSE work.
Details and booking information for our next 'Preparing for Adulthood' 2-hour workshop on 13 July 2023
Rachael Baker
Senior RSE Specialist
Sex Education Forum
Further information
You can find out more about Preparing for Adulthood outcomes here.
See our full range of SEND specialist RSE training
Download our free guide to Meeting the needs of pupils with SEND in RSE
- Brown M, McCann E, Truesdale M, Linden M, Marsh L. The Design, Content and Delivery of Relationship and Sexuality Education Programmes for People with Intellectual Disabilities: A Systematic Review of the International Evidence. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Oct 18;17(20):7568. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17207568. PMID: 33080975; PMCID: PMC7589668.
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