The schools watchdog has been accused of deception after it claimed that a third of pupils wanted more sex education, while failing to mention that more than half did not.
The huge nationwide survey of almost 150,000 children aged ten to fifteen is designed to find out, among other things, “if the advice they receive on matters like sex and relationships is sufficient.”
In a press release accompanying the survey, Ofsted simply said: “Better information and advice about sex and relationships was wanted by more than a third of children and young people.”
But according to the figures released by Ofsted, 55 per cent of those asked said they didn’t need more information. Ofsted failed to report this figure in the press release.
Ofsted recently announced plans to begin using pupils’ opinions on the sex education they receive when assessing schools – a plan which has been denounced as ‘lunacy’ by commentators.
Since then, the Government has announced that sex and relationships education is to become compulsory across both primary and secondary schools.
Mike Judge of The Christian Institute said: “Ofsted’s own figures say that a majority of children don’t want more sex education.
“It looks as though the schools inspectorate is trying to spin these figures in order to back up the Government’s misguided plans for sex education.
“Has Ofsted jumped on the sex education bandwagon? If so, it should jump off again and get on with the job of improving schools.”