Page 66 - SEN113 SEN Magazine July-August 2021-V3

PSHE What’s new with PSHE? An update on PSHE by Zoe Mather. 66 What are some of the challenges of teaching the curriculum to learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and how can you work to overcome them? The changing face of PSHE In my time as a teacher, this was the subject that has had the most name changes, going from PHE (Personal and Health Education) through to the mouthful that was PSHECB, or a variant of this acronym, with the introduction of sex, economics, citizenship, and British Values. It has been taught within all schools since the first national programme of study in 2000, including the statutory sex and relationships education guidance – so what’s new? In short, after a number of years of campaigning, the Department for Education (DfE) has designated the majority of the PSHE curriculum statutory from April 2021 and set out the topics that must be covered by the end of each key stage. Schools still have autonomy to decide what to teach and when, to suit their context. Relationships, Sex and Health Education covers “There will be a renewed focus” roughly 80% of the current PSHE curriculum and although schools are already covering this curriculum, there will be a renewed focus. Finding the baseline As you all know, the challenges of teaching children and young people with SEND can be as individual as the children themselves. The new curriculum prescribes what must be delivered by the end of a key stage, with the allowance that “schools should ensure that their teaching is sensitive, age- appropriate, developmentally appropriate and delivered with reference to the law”. Ensuring suitable differentiation with a SEN113 senmagazine.co.uk