Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 7
7
Accepted in Part
Paragraph: 58
Encouraging positive body image during childhood and adolescence must be a priority.
Recommendation
Encouraging positive body image during childhood and adolescence must be a priority. We commend the Government for introducing body image into the RSHE curriculum last year and hope this creates an opportunity for schools to address the concerns young people have about their body image. We recommend that the Department for Education regularly reviews the new RSHE curriculum to ensure that it is having a positive impact on wellbeing and decreases levels of body dissatisfaction. Additionally, the Department for Education should explore other policy initiatives to encourage schools to take a ‘whole school approach’ to encouraging positive body image.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government states the RSHE curriculum, which includes content on body image, is compulsory and will be inspected by Ofsted. They commit to undertaking quantitative and qualitative research to understand perceptions and delivery of RSHE, which will inform its impact on pupil wellbeing, but do not explicitly commit to exploring additional policy initiatives for a whole-school approach beyond the existing curriculum's support.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
58
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted in Part
55. The statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum became compulsory in September 2020, with flexibilities introduced so schools did not have to start teaching until the summer terms 2021, to accommodate COVID-related school closures.
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