The Government’s public consultation on ‘Growing up in the online world’ asks significant questions about how best to support children and young people growing up today. Many of the challenges experienced by children relate to the design of technology. For example, the harms caused by features such as ‘persuasive design’ cannot simply be addressed by better education. At the same time, the role of education in supporting children and young people has not been fully realised.
We support the principles of ‘safety by design’, which put the onus on the design and regulation of technology itself as fundamental to protecting children from harm. The principles of ‘safety by design’ have been articulated in a code of practice co-produced by leading experts including our Partner organisations the EVAW Coalition and NSPCC.
The Government consultation is wide-reaching and includes sections on the role of education. Chapter 4 helpfully flags the critical role that schools play, and refers to the Governments' update of RSHE guidance as a means of supporting pupils to learn about ‘online risks, including online misogyny, deepfakes and artificial intelligence as well as how to identify and challenge misinformation’.
Sex Education Forum welcomes the updates to the statutory RSHE guidance (2025), which includes updated subject content and greater focus on developing crucial skills such as empathy and respectful communication. We call on Government to extend Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) up to the age of 18, so that the needs of 16 and 17 year olds in further education are meet through continuous and age-relevant provision.
We welcome the prominence of RSHE in chapter 4 of the ‘Growing up in the online world’ consultation as well as in the Government’s VAWG Strategy, Women’s Health Strategy and National Youth Strategy.
However, for these interrelated strategies to be successful, there needs to be properly planned investment in training for teachers and a range of trusted adults who are well-placed to facilitate formal and informal RSE. The evidence for investment in training is clear:
- The Government’s Research Report on ‘Teaching relationships education to prevent sexual abuse’ (2024) recommends that teaching staff all receive training on RSE pedagogy
- Young people told us that providing training for teachers so they can develop more confidence with RSE would be the single most impactful action that Government could take to improve RSE (SEF, 2024)
Furthermore, topics that have been part of mandatory RSHE for several years are not yet adequately covered: 53% of young people aged 16 and 17 years old, responding to our 2025 Poll, told us that they learnt either ‘nothing at all’ or ‘some but not enough’ about pornography at school (SEF, 2025). There is further to go with newer topics such as ‘deepfakes’, where 72% of young people report learning either ‘nothing at all’ or ‘some but not enough’.
We are therefore calling on Government to engage with RSE and PSHE experts to work together on a joined-up action plan for sustained improvement to RSHE, which must have training and long-term investment in the workforce at its core.
Further details of the Government consultation, which closes at midnight on 26 May 2026 available here.
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