Faith-sensitive RSE in areas of low religious observance: really?

It is widely agreed that Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) needs to take account of cultural and religious considerations and this principle is reflected in current government advice in England. At the same time, and for a number of reasons, many of those who teach RSE in schools find it difficult to take account of religious considerations, for example because they are unsure how to handle the views of students when these are strongly influenced by religious values. In this article, we report on fieldwork undertaken with school students in England including in one school that was characterised by low religious observance. Our key finding troubles the notion that students who identify as agnostic or atheistic are unsympathetic to religious considerations. We found that the large majority of students for whom religion was not personally important nevertheless saw great value in what we term ‘faith-sensitive RSE’. This has implications for how RSE might be taught in schools where there is a diversity of students, in regards to the importance they attach to religion.